Poor Unfortunate Souls
by A Bee Cee
Summary: AU: Mermaids aren't fragile scared creatures who rule the sea, mermaids are cold blooded predators. Ariel isn't content with such fate and makes a deal with The Dark One to have the chance to experience more. An incident in her destiny and a rash decision bring her aboard the Jolly Roger and she embarks in adventures she'd never dream of.
1. Prologue

_A/N: I do not own anything you might recognize from anywhere, only my perception of Ariel and some other things here and there._

_The beautiful artwork illustrating the story is by the most talented artist Selina Fenech._

_This is a short chapter to give you some background on my Ariel._

_Hope you enjoy and please review!_

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**PROLOGUE**

Ariel rested her head over a stone. Her blood red hair waved with the silent sound of the water, her eyes were closed, but she was awake. She listened to the endless quietness around her with care. She could feel it was day already, in the outside world, she could feel the clarity of the sun bathing the sea, she smiled still with her eyes closed and felt a shiver down her spine when an enormous shadow started to cover her figure. She heard the hisses and opened her eyes to meet the shining eyes of her kin all around her, hiding among corals and stones.

The red head looked up to realize a ship was sailing slowly over her. This was a big one. Ariel knew this one. She waved her bluish green fin as she swam away, as far as she could, leaving all of her kin to appreciate and prepare an ambush. But not Ariel, Ariel had her share last night, and she needed not to eat. Neither did her sisters, but they appreciated what they did.

Ariel was brought up like every other mermaid. When her egg hatched she and her sisters who hatched the same day learned to live by themselves, when matured they would be able to find their entire school of mermaids with only their senses. Mermaids had splendid vision and hearing skills, they heard and saw things inside their heads. Even miles and miles away they could make up what was happening aboard the ships that traveled the seas, more than enough to prepare to attack.

She swam into an island shaped like a cave not too far from where the ship was. Ships could dock outside to the land, but to enter the cave, only with a small boat. It was Ariel's cave; she lured the sailors there so she could feast alone. Many other mermaids had their own ways, and this was hers. But she wasn't there to feast; she was there to observe from afar, her favorite pastime.

Mermaids communicated with each other by hisses and small sounds, but they also spoke the language of men. The rare times Ariel actually had the chance to speak to one of her sisters, she was appalled to be told that she was an odd one; the others didn't care for what humans did and how they lived, but not Ariel, she was curious and she always dreamed and wished of one day being able to be among them. When word spread out that Ariel had thoughts like that, her sisters maintained a distance and Ariel got used to being alone.

As soon as she entered the cave she emerged from the water. Her fair white skin almost glowed in the darkness of the cave. She emerged only up to her tiny waist; her long curled hair covered graciously her bare breasts, the curls looked as if they never touched the water, the bright blood red of her hair contrasted deeply with her skin. She looked outside, to the ship. She smiled to herself when she confirmed her thoughts; she knew that ship, it was a royal ship. She saw it the night before: the sailors were feasting and singing and she observed from far away. Her bright dark blue eyes fixed on the man that seemed like the centre of all attention; she heard the others call him Eric.

She smiled, remembering last night and imagining what could be like to have legs, to walk on land. She could come ashore, but her breath would quickly go away if completely deprived of salt water. And humans, oh, humans would kill her. And with reason. Ariel and her kin were monsters and killers, they deserved no less. And Ariel couldn't blame humans being scared of her. But if she had legs, they would never know...

Ever since she was hatched, Ariel never understood the ways of her people. There were no male mermaids; during mate season the mermaids would feast on many humans at a night and leave out legs as they swam away. They never know who their mother is: they are all one. But that does not bring them together if not to kill and ambush ships; the mermaids were predators and only the most skilled and cruel ones were adored. Ariel never understood any of that; she wished for a change every day of her life. She loved to watch humans feasting, talking, laughing, she _wanted_ that… If only she could find a way to have it….

"What a desperate, desperate soul," Ariel was stunned by a dark deep male voice; she jumped, her fin waving in the air as she went underwater again.

"I'm not going to hurt you," the voice continued in her head, as if it was inside her. She wiggled, desperate something had caught her, but she was alone.

She emerged again, slowly, and as soon as her eyes popped out of the water she saw a hooded man sitting inside the cave. She didn't move an inch.

"I can grant your wish, Mermaid," the voice said, this time soundly around the cave. "I can give you legs."

How did this cloaked men knew what she wanted? Ariel's fin wiggled with fear.

"I know how to spot a desperate soul," the cloaked man said, as if he could hear her thoughts. "You are not desperate enough for what I need. But," he made a pause and only then Ariel could see his lizard eyes and skin. "You can help me find it."

"What do you want?" she managed to say as her head slowly popped out of the water. Her voice sounded as sweet as a melody.

"You see, sweetling," the man said, his eyes never leaving hers. "I really need to find a desperate soul. The skin of mermaid fin, a creature filled with ways of luring delusional men, is just the thing I need."

"Do you want my fin?" Ariel asked, growing interested, she swam closer and emerged all the way to her waist again. "I don't want to have only legs. Swimming across the sea is the only happiness I know."

"Nah, not yours," he said. Despite his dark voice, he seemed almost… friendly. "You can turn back and forth with just a thought. The skin I can get from your sisters."

Ariel pondered. She didn't really know her sisters; it was all hisses and traps to ambush ships, and the occasional odd looks they shot her ever since she opened her mouth to ask what they thought of humans. Why should she care? But she didn't answer right away, her eyes wandered in the water around her. Legs! She could _have_ legs! She could go on land and talk and hear stories, and feast, dance and travel through forests and kingdoms! The kingdoms she saw in the minds of her victims when she sang to them before killing them.

"Name is Zoso," the voice spoke when Ariel held her silence for way too long.

"I am Ar—"

"Ariel, I know," he interrupted her and she could swear she saw a glimpse of a smile. "So, will you trade with me, Ariel? I give you the chance to have legs whenever you wish so and you give me the hiding place of your sisters."

Ariel eyes unlocked from Zoso's, her glance gazed on the water around her, she looked at her fin waving slowly underwater, giving her balance and then she heard it: a sweet melody of voices, enchanting and lavishing in desire, she turned around and observed as the royal ship seemed to have stopped, its men all on the main deck of the ship.

"Tick tock, sweetie," Zoso's voice called from behind her. "Or your sisters will dine on Prince Eric."

"He's a _prince_?" Ariel turned again to Zoso's suddenly. She saw a mischievous yellow crooked smile under his hood.

"Oh yes," he answered simply. The same smirk across his face. "If we make a deal now, I can stop your sisters from attacking the ship. The sailors will be confused when the spell is broken and will want to return to their land. You can follow them and meet your prince there."

Ariel looked back at the ship, still hearing her sisters singing in a sweet melody. She saw them popping slowly out of water, their hair waving with the ocean breeze in a seductive dance to their preys. She could stop that, she could finally leave all this, she could go to land, meet Prince Eric and his friends. Be _human_.

"Will my kiss still be poison?" she looked back at Zoso.

When the sailors jumped or crashed their ships intentionally to meet the mermaids, they kissed them. The mermaid kiss poisoned the poor man's veins and his heart would stop immediately, only then the mermaids would feast on their preys.

"Now, true love's kiss would never kill anyone, love," Zoso answered in riddles. Ariel glanced at the ship again and saw as some men started to climb ropes to jump overboard.

"Deal," she said at once and glanced back at Zoso in time to catch him standing up as he filled the cave with a dark laughter.

Zoso gestured to Ariel with his hands and she felt a shiver. Purple sparkly smoke filled the cave and evolved around her whirling in her direction. She closed her eyes with fear, expecting pain, but only felt a small sting on her fin and suddenly felt as it transformed into a pair of beautiful long legs evolved by the skirt of a dress made entirely of what seemed like a silk organza fabric, very light and flowy with the same blueish green of her fin. The fabric went up her waist and covered her breasts on a princess cut sort of top held by a tight knot on her back.

When the smoke started to fade away, Ariel lost her grip and started to drown, but quickly recovered and moved her legs, swimming up again as if she had them her entire life. She swam to the border and hesitated when Zoso offered a lizardy greenish hand to help her up, but took it and stood up on the rock beside him. She looked down at her legs, amazed, and felt tears filling up her eyes. She jumped and whirled around on her legs, but stopped as she met Zoso's serious eyes in front of her.

"Where?" was his only word. Ariel sighed anxiously and hesitated for a second before pointing in the direction of the ship.

"Many feet down, some of them are there, then go east, the others are there," she said lowly. Zoso managed another mischievous smile and bowed respectfully before a whirl of black smoke surrounded him. Ariel followed with her eyes as she saw the smoke swim down the ocean and disappear miles away.

Suddenly the melody of the mermaids stopped and gave room to a shrieking scream. Ariel observed as the men on the ship started to pace confusedly on board and was horrified when she started to see the blood filling the water. She ran to the water and with a blink of an eye transformed her legs back into her fin before jumping, she swam in the direction she sent Zoso and stood witness as Zoso's smoke cut all of her sisters in half and disappeared with their fins, leaving only their human part behind. All of them faced the same fate.

Ariel felt her heart slamming with fear on her chest as she observed the scene horrified and swam around trying to find survivors. The shrieking scream of the mermaids started to cease slowly, but Ariel continued to search, only to understand she had agreed to exterminate all of her kin for a chance to walk on land. Her tears of regret mixed with the salt water around her as she swam, lost, around the torsos of her sisters and the blooded water for hours and hours.


	2. Chapter I

**I**

Ariel followed the royal a ship all the way to port. She made sure never to come too close to the surface not to be seen. She'd been travelling for days now, by then her crying had stopped. She should know better than to deal lightly with the Dark One. She heard pirates and sailors talk about him; a vile creature that controlled specially a small village in one of the kingdoms. She should've made clear of what she was dealing.

There were none of her sisters left. She searched fiercely; sang and hissed, but never heard anything back. She thought Zoso would take only a few, but he took them all. The finless torsos sunk in the ocean, the blood filled the water, and she thought maybe the sailors couldn't see it for they didn't seem to mind it as they sailed away.

She managed to eat off of fish and other ocean specialties during the journey, not to scare the sailors away. Ariel tried eating only off fish for a while before that, but they seemed never to truly fulfill her, but now she was determined. She lost her sisters for this, she would make it work. She wondered if in human form she could, perhaps, eat other things? She breathed differently when Zoso pulled her up on land. Her senses lowered drastically, the singing of her sisters was only a faint memory in her mind in the few moments she stayed on land. Perhaps when a human she truly transformed completely into one? She hadn't had the chance to try and explore her human self completely until that night.

Ariel observed from afar as the ship docked, she took a considerable distance not to be seen and popped her head out of the water to observe as the sailors prepared to leave the ship. A castle stood strong and powerful far away on a mountain and the dock was made of a hard dark wood, the small village surrounding port was vibrant with life, the houses and establishments were made of dark stones, and oil lamps and blowtorches illuminated the entire village. Ariel could hear music, laughter and voices, and observed as the sailors left the ship and were greeted by locals.

Ariel dived again and swam towards port; she could see the earth that held the city strong baying the water and swam slowly to a darker part of the port. Carefully she swam up again; the tip of her head and her eyes popped out of the water and she realized she was on the other side of the ship, above on the ground a stoned house blocked her view. Seemed like the perfect place to transform and emerge out of the water. She closed her eyes and concentrated, her fin slowly turned into the pair of legs and her body evolved with the organza dress to cover her up. She lost a bit of grip again and almost drowned, but managed to swim to the dock and stand up quickly on ground.

She took a deep breath, feeling as her heart slammed her chest with a mix of excitement and fear and with the little confidence she had left, she walked around the ship, feeling the wet wood with her bare feet, she looked up at the ship and observed as sailors kept disembarking on the other side. She noted that indeed her senses were a lot less sharp when in human form, when she could barely hear what they were saying among all the voices and couldn't make up all the smells that filled her nostrils; the only strong smell she could really make up was the ocean breeze.

"Hello, pretty lass, are you lost?" a voice stunned her. She looked from the ship to where the voice came from and stared at an old man offering a hand to her.

The man had a bald head covered by a red stained and old bandana, a few of his left teeth were crooked and yellow, his eyes were dark as the night around them and his face was covered in with a dirty white beard, he was dressed with stained brown pants, a pair of old boots and a ragged puffy shirt. Ariel was so distracted observing the ship she didn't even realize she was about to actually step on land, the man offered his hand to help her up the small step from the docks to the land.

"No," she tried to sound casually, her voice failing a little. She hesitated but took the man's hand. "I'm not lost, sir."

"Looks like you are," he replied with a horrible smirk as he helped Ariel up.

She could feel rawness in his skin and quickly let go of his hand as soon as she stepped on the stoned ground. He grabbed her hand strongly as she tried to step away. Ariel panicked for a second and tried again to let her hand loose.

"Sir, please, let go of me," she said lowly. The man tried to pull her closer as she resisted.

"Oi, Old Jackie!" a third voice spoke up. "What are you doing?"

Both Ariel and the man, Old Jackie, looked at the source of the third voice. A handsome man with deep blue eyes, a beardless face and a white smile looked back at them. He was dressed with a royal uniform, white and blue, his black hair was hidden beneath a beautiful black hat with a black and white feather on the side. Ariel recognized him immediately: Prince Eric.

"Your Highness," Old Jackie said as soon as his eyes met Eric's, letting go of Ariel immediately to bow.

Ariel looked from Eric to Old Jackie and thought of doing the same, and so she did: clumsily imitating Old Jackie and with her head down. She heard as Eric's boot made a repetitive noise as he approached both of them. The Prince stood in front of Ariel and she stared at his boots, fighting hard not to look up, he took a gloved hand to her chin.

"Aren't you a pretty one?" Eric said, his voice deep and strong, Ariel looked up but kept bowing, she stared mesmerized at his white smile. "Stand up," he said and she did as she was told, he took the hand from her chin and kept on smiling. "What's your name?"

"A-Ariel," Ariel stuttered for a second as she lost her eyes on his. Eric glanced for a second to Old Jackie by her side and gestured apathetically to the man, who stood up and left them almost running.

"Ariel," Eric's eyes met hers as soon as the man left them. "Do you want to join our welcome home party?"

Ariel smiled in excitement and nodded her head. Soon completely forgetting how she got there, her sisters and everything else in her life as she joined her prince and followed him and his sailors to a tavern by the port.

**x**

Ariel shyly accompanied the party to the tavern, loud folk music played and the prince was welcomed by many common folk, most of them seemed of a lower level than him, with ragged clothes and dirty skins. As soon as Eric entered the tavern he distanced from Ariel, greeting and talking to the common people. Some women attended to the sailors, including Eric, with tight corsets on their bodies, heavy make up and their lavishing curves dancing with the music.

Ariel stood by a corner and observed, casually avoiding looks and people trying to grab her to dance… and other things. No one insisted, and as much as she wanted to actually join the feast, she was still unsure of how to act. She looked around and observed as people talked, played, danced, ate, feasted, kissed. She observed as two beautiful blonde women sat on each side of Eric's lap, their long tanned legs showing as they pulled their skirts up. The Prince happily ran his hands on the girls' legs as they kissed his neck and lips while he drank and talked to his friends.

Was that what human women did? She observed cautiously as if learning, they seemed as if they were enjoying it. At the same time she observed other women feasting, but reserved, and was confused. Maybe that attitude was a choice? It wasn't as if they were like mermaids, they weren't exactly predators. Humans had choices and lives, they didn't live to lure sailors, kill and feast on them. They had more, and whatever they did it was _their_ choice. Ariel wasn't accustomed with making choices.

Ariel was caught by absolute surprise when a hand gently grabbed her elbow and pulled her away to a dark hallway. She took her elbow away and noticed when Prince Eric stared at her, his blue eyes shining with the light coming from the feasting hall. She swallowed dryly when he pinned her to the wall, one hand on each side of her head. She looked up, as he was taller than her and nudged down when she noticed he was about to kiss her.

"Where are you going?" he grabbed her arm again when she nudged and escaped his pin. This time he wasn't so gentle.

"Please, let go of me," she looked from his hand strongly holding her arm to his eyes.

"I'm _your prince_," his voice was loud, but so was the music and talking on the feasting hall, no one seemed to hear him, his tone was pompous. "You should do as I say, now come here."

Ariel thought faster than she expected, and as the prince pulled her closer to pin her again she took one knee up strongly to his crotch. She felt a sting as her skin ripped a little when her knee clumsily touched his belt with her attack. Prince Eric fell to his knees immediately and let go of her, Ariel stepped away, frightened.

"You are not my prince!" were the only words she managed to say. Although the fear took her body completely, her voice sounded confident when she spoke.

Eric grabbed his crotch and moaned in pain, but when she spoke he shot an angry look at her. However, before he could react Ariel ran away, making her way quickly among the people and leaving the tavern.

"Guards!" his voice rang louder than the music this time. Everyone stopped talking and playing and looked directly at him. Some of the sailors stood up abruptly dropping women, tables and beer on the floor as they walked up to their prince.

"Your Highness, are you alright?" one of them spoke up as he stood a hand to Eric.

"Find Ariel, the red head." the words sounded darker than the sailors ever heard coming out of their prince's mouth. He refused the help and started to stand up on his own. The sailors quickly left him, taking their swords and walking out of the tavern.

**x**

Ariel ran as fast as she could, and noted mentally that she'd be much farther now if she were swimming with her fin. She made her way among the people and ran towards the docks. She heard as men started to shout her name and commands to the others guarding the docks.

When the men guarding the docks realized the others were after her, the red head was already running on the wooden platform beside the ship.

"Stop, right now, in the name of the king!" a voice spoke up from behind her. Ariel turned around and started to walk slowly backwards as a wave of men started to walk in her direction, bows and swords in hands.

Ariel smiled when she reached the end of the wooden dock. Her heels slowly stepped away from the dock and she maintained balance with her toes. The men kept approaching her.

"You have nowhere to go, surrender yourself," one of them said as they approached her more, only a few feet away from her. Ariel smiled and before they could take another step she jumped backwards into the water.

She was completely underwater when she changed again and her fin wiggled to swim away from there, she diverted from the arrows the men shot at the water and she observed already far away when some of them jumped underwater to find her, but could barely see with the darkness of the night around them. Ariel turned back and continued swimming away, as fast as she could.

**x**

"Gone?" Eric's voice was a mist of incredulousness and rage. He stared at his guards and sailors, all of them evading his glance.

All of his sailors hated when this happened. Eric wasn't as nice and caring as he looked in feasts, he was cruel and spoiled, as was his father, King Richard. He hated to be confronted, he despised people who didn't please him and most of all: he hated to be disappointed.

"You are telling me that a woman jumped here," Eric continued and pointed exactly where his sailors said Ariel jumped. "Diverted from your arrows and swam away. _In this darkness_?"

"Your highness, we searched everywhere around in the water," one of the sailors spoke up, his voice shaking. "She was no where to be found."

"Well, _clearly_ she came back to land, you idiot!" Eric's voice rang with a yell, his guard jumped. "She probably came up from somewhere else!"

Eric walked towards the captain of his personal guard and took the man by his colar, before speaking slowly and gravely.

"Tear this village apart, but you _will_ find her," the prince said. "No man or woman says no to me and gets away alive. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Your Highness," Captain Mills stared at his prince's eyes and nodded quietly. The prince let go of his captain and started to walk away, the men opened up passage as he walked.

"You have three days," Eric said as he walked towards the horse his guard brought to him. "Bring her to the castle. You may do as you please with her, but bring her alive."

Captain Mills observed as Eric mounted his black stallion and trotted away. The soldier shook his head when he noted the frightened eyes of the peasants as the prince left the small village. Eric was too much like his father; the little hope of a fair ruler to their kingdom was lost.

**x**

Far away from Prince Eric's kingdom a pirate ship sailed slowly by the calm sea on a bright morning. Captain Killian Jones sat carelessly over an empty barrel of wine, his feet up resting over a rope as he peeled off an orange with his knife. His attention was drawn suddenly to a raven flying over his ship. _A message_, he knew. He watched as the raven sat on the shoulder of one of his sailors. The dark skinned man took a parchment from the bird and set it free. He read and his eyes locked on Jones' as he started walking towards his captain.

"Word from my deceased mother, Hugo?" Jones asked sarcastically, due to the man's serious expression, as he chewed on a piece of his orange.

"Captain Lars says a royal ship is coming our way," Hugo answered, ignoring his Captain's joke. "He was at Quutamo, our dear Prince Eric was a little annoyed a few days ago because some girl said no to him, his guard couldn't find her anywhere, so he decided to take his anger somewhere else."

"When is that spoiled prick not irritated with something?" Jones replied after a scoff. "Let them come, we will send them running back like last time. We keep our course, King Midas is one of the few that doesn't hate us, we need to step on land for a while, sell all this crap we took from King George's trade ships to get some coin."

"We could take a detour—"

"We could," Jones said as he put his feet down. "But we won't, a detour will delay us. We keep course. Besides, these waters are too calm, I'm getting bored."

"Aye, Captain," Hugo said, defeated, and nodded.

Jones smiled mischievously and nodded back, taking another piece of the orange to his mouth as his friend walked away. He wondered for a while who was the _surely_ mad girl that dared to say no to Prince Eric of Quutamo, the most ruthless and spoiled prince of all the kingdoms and amused himself as he imagined the look of incredulousness on the prick's face when she did so.

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_A/N: Please, please, please review and let me know what you think. I know it's annoying when authors beg for reviews, but I could use some encouragement! :P Thanks for all the views, faves and follows!_


	3. Chapter II

**II**

Ariel looked down at the book with curiosity. She observed the picture: a beautiful blonde woman brushing her hair in front of a huge mirror. Ariel frowned and stood up, taking the blowtorch with one hand as she walked towards the pile of things she'd stolen in the past month.

She got used to stealing, and quite good at it. She started the same night she escaped from Eric's guards. The men stopped searching her underwater soon enough, but later returned to the sea in small boats, while she heard others trotting away screaming her name around the village. Ariel waited patiently when one of the boats, boarded by two sailors sailed farther from land and emerged from the water, singing a sweet melody, luring them closer to her.

When the men approached, Ariel grabbed the starboard with both hands and sang closer to them, the men fought against each other, but with the melody Ariel made them stop, one of them approached her and Ariel kissed him deeply, quickly killing him. The other, still under her spell, didn't even care when his mate dropped dead beside him and leaned to kiss her as well.

After Ariel finished feasting on both of them, she let go of their bodies and watched as they sunk under the water, she grabbed the boat forward and carried it away with her. She swam for days and occasionally would let go of the boat to swim for a while underwater around it and eat some fish before taking the boat again and swimming away.

Ariel reached her cave a few days after and pulled the boat inside. After that day she'd visit close villages, never the same one she met Eric again, and disguised as a young lost girl she'd sneak around and steal things. She stole a whole lot of books, but always preferred the ones with pictures, since she couldn't read the words. She also stole clothes, cloaks, a sword, a funny mixture oil she found out could help her spread and keep fire for long and a whole other lot of things.

That night she was studying, and kept looking for things similar to the ones on the picture. She was wearing the organza dress her fin transformed on when she had legs and a pair of old and ragged boots. She jumped and screamed to herself in excitement when she found the _'small trident'_ as she called it, among the pile of things, along with a small artifact she could hold with one hand by a handle and see herself on it, the same way she could see herself reflected on the ocean, only a lot more clear.

The mermaid ran to the book again and kneeled on the stoned ground, imitating the picture she started to brush her hair, but the 'small trident' caught between the locks of her hair and she pulled it strongly away. She looked at the picture again; the woman wasn't holding a small trident like hers! It had a lot more teeth to it, and it was a little rounded…

_BOOM!_

Ariel jumped and stood on her feet, scared as the sound shook her cave for a split second. She looked outside and saw two big ships, one of them on fire. She quickly took off her boots and dived underwater, transforming herself as she always did. She swam to the entrance of the cave and adjusted her sharp vision. She saw the royal flag of Prince Eric's kingdom atop the burning ship and the other carried a black pirate flag.

**x**

"What a bunch of runaway sissies!" Killian said as he laughed and watched the royal guards running as one of his canons hit their ship.

"They will stop now," Hugo said beside him. Killian smiled at his friend and looked up as soon as he saw a lightning beam crossing the sky; he waited patiently and took his time to appreciate the loud sound of the thunder filling what seemed like the entire ocean around them.

"Well, that's just dandy," Jones joked as he watched his men fire arrows towards the royal ship. The rain started to pour angrily around them, Killian felt his ship move as the ocean responded to the sky.

"We can't fire them now, Captain!" a sailor shouted around deck as some others started to adjust the sails to the storm.

"I love the rain, but not while on the sea…" Killian said to his friend Hugo as he grabbed a rope. "For one thing is good though," he walked backwards still with the hope on his hand. "They'll _never_ see me coming."

"Jones, no!" Hugo said at once, realizing what his Captain was about to do, but to no use, Killian Jones grabbed the rope, took some distance and jumped off his ship to the royal one.

"He kills their captain and we're done, mate!" one of the other sailors said and watched as the captain lost himself in the winds and drops of rain.

Killian Jones landed masterfully at the yard of the royal ship and held the main topmast not to lose his grip with one hand, while with the other he drew his sword. He observed as the royal crew tried confusedly to sail in the storm and looked back to his ship, already taking distance.

"Smart lads," he said to himself and quickly descended the mast, landing on the main deck.

Quickly one of the royal sailors recognized him and drew his own sword, but Jones, a lot more experience in sailing in all kinds of weather, didn't even take much to cut him down and out of his way. He walked almost casually between the sailors, slaying them as if he was training wood sword fighting with a child, the rain already soaked wet his black coat, and boots, but he didn't mind. He _loved_ the rain and its smell mixed with the ocean breeze.

Jones quickly made his way to the bridge, the closer he got, the more he hid himself stealthily behind and between sails, as he reached the bridge and hid behind some others too preoccupied with the storm to notice him, he saw the ship captain and disappointedly confirmed it was not Prince Eric himself. But he had to make do with that.

"Missed me, Captain Mills?" his voice rang loud between the thunders. Daniel Mills distracted from shouting orders and looked at Killian's direction as he heard his name.

Before Mills could react, the pirate walked towards him and grabbed his arm; making the man kneel as the pirate twisted his arm and took his sword to this neck. Jones noticed when sailors drew their swords and pointed at him, but the pirate carefully stepped back, pulling Mills in front of him as he walked back.

"Loyal sailors you have," Jones said sarcastically as he noted the fear in some of the men's eyes. "None of them steps up to defend his Capt—"

Jones lost his voice when an arrow stuck in his left elbow. He lost his grip for a second, startled with the sudden attack and looked around to try and understand where it came from, but he couldn't see properly with all the rain. His vision started to blur with the pain, but he still held Mills' twisted arm strongly, he stepped back again and met the ship rails with his back. He looked down and saw the water splashing the stern furiously. He looked up just to see as another arrow missed his head by an inch.

"Well, that's unfortunate, I was quite enjoying my trip with you," were Killian's last word before the slashed Mills' neck letting go of his arm and jumped overboard, splashing as he hit the water.

**x**

Ariel swam out of the cave and observed the ships violently surviving the storm. She saw when a man dressed in black jumped from the pirate ship to the royal one and got closer to see what was happening, but still far enough not be hit by any of the ships, since she didn't need not to care if they'd see in her in the storm. Her hair became wet with the rain and her vision was blurred, but still her sharp eyes could make up what was happing aboard the royal ship.

She noted when the pirate ship started to sail away quickly, proving the pirates were in a lot more control during the storm, but quickly her eyes followed the pirate man aboard the royal ship. She watched as he masterfully made his way to the bridge and held her breath when she noted who was aboard shouting orders: the same man who yelled for her to stop in the name of the king that night. She heard the pirate sarcastically speaking to the royal captain for a few minutes and widened open her eyes when an arrow hit him, before she could realize, she watched as the pirate jumped to the sea.

In a matter of seconds, without thinking properly, Ariel dived and got closer to the royal ship's stern. She looked around for the pirate's body, but couldn't find it. The strong waves pushed her around, but she was used to storms and found her balance underwater, it wasn't until the royal ship started to sail away that she caught a glimpse of a light underwater and looked at it's direction, the pirate's sword reflected on the moon light and Ariel quickly swam towards him.

**x**

His crew would be back for him, Killian was sure of that. He just needed to find a way to survive the storm while he waited. He was lucky enough, but he preferred to think _experienced_, when he didn't hit the ship as he jumped into the water. The sting of the bow started to get stronger mixing with the salt water, after he took the arrow from his skin and tried to swim up with difficulty. The royal ship moving and the storm made it a lot more difficult. He started to lose his breath and couldn't believe himself. _This just couldn't be the ending of Captain Killian Jones_, he deserved - at the very least - to die old surrounded by beautiful women to attend his elderly needs.

He started to loose his senses as he kept trying to swim up, waving his sword with his hand and started to choke, indignant to his fate, his eyes started to close and his vision to fade when he noticed a red headed woman… No, a red headed _mermaid_, swimming towards him. A _mermaid_? The water was definitely playing with his senses by that point, he felt a hand grabbing the collar of his coat, but passed out before seeing or feeling anything else.

**x**

Ariel still didn't know why she was doing what she was doing, but took the pirate by the collar and swam up with him. He was a lot heavier than she expected but she managed to emerge with him, she took him with both hands and observed as his head tilted to the side, unconscious as she took him out of the water. _Damn it_, she thought to herself, and still emerged she managed to pull him with her as she swam towards her cave.

Already inside her cave, she transformed again, this time not losing her grip, as she was a lot more accustomed to her legs now, but suddenly feeling a lot tired and breathless. She managed to pull him over her boat; he lay clumsily with his torso and head on the boat and his legs hanging out. She grabbed the boat and pulled it as close as she could to the shore of the cave.

Ariel stood up on the stony land of the cave and grabbed the pirate's coat with both hands, pulling him towards her. She lost her grip with his weight on her and fell clumsily on the ground with him over her.

"Ouch!" she yelled to herself and pushed him away, laying him on his back.

"Alright, I remember this," Ariel whispered to herself as she observed the pirate in front of her.

She sighed to herself as she remembered this one time she played unconscious when reaching a beach. A man pulled her out of the water to the sand, pushed her chest a few times, and held her nostrils closed, opened her mouth and seemed to breath inside her. Of course, when the man touched her lips and started to exhale, Ariel panicked and 'woke up', afraid she could poison him, even though it wasn't a kiss, but she didn't poison him. She couldn't poison the pirate either, _right_? It wasn't a kiss.

Ariel took a hand to her own chest, where the man pushed her, measuring where she should do the same with the pirate. She measured by her ribs and kneeled on the ground beside him, opening up his coat and counting his ribs over his shirt, she found what seemed like the same spot and with both hands started pushing as the man did with her. At first carefully, thinking she might hurt him, but then faster and stronger. When the pirate didn't respond after a pause, she did it strongly again and got closer to his face.

She opened his mouth slowly and carefully, not sure if she was doing it right, she held his nose and touched her open lips on his, rescuing his breath a few times. Before she even realize she felt water in her mouth and fell back, scared, spitting it out. Was this supposed to happen?

Probably, for the pirate started to cough water. When he finished coughing, he looked at Ariel's stunned wide blue eyes staring at him. Then the flash came to his mind: the red head woman before he passed out, this should be her, but… She _wasn't_ a woman.

Jones quickly took his dagger from his boot and attacked the red head at once. She showed no resistance, startled as he pushed her and she fell on her back, he put his weight over her tiny body and locked her arms beside her waist. The dagger scratching her neck, as he looked intently at her eyes, close enough to feel her breathing fast under him. He measured her, and noted that not only was she beautiful, she had legs. Had he gone mad underwater? Seeing mermaids and all?

"You have legs," he stated after he ran his eyes over her legs. When he pushed her, her skirt lifted up to her knees.

Only after he said it, he noted how stupid the statement sounded. Ariel, however, froze as she heard the words. He had seen her! But he wasn't sure; maybe he thought he was delirious as he drowned?

"Y-yes," the red head stuttered under him. He looked deeply into her blue eyes when he heard her voice.

"Did you just save me?" he asked, incredulous and ashamed that a tiny pretty thing like that saved his life, but he'd never admit so. She was indeed small and petite compared to him, no way in life he'd admit she saved him to anyone.

Ariel nodded with her head, frightened. She stared at Jones' piercing eyes the entire time.

Jones felt the girl's heart beating fast as he supported his weight with his arm over her chest. Suddenly he felt guilty to be scaring her off like that. But he could swear he saw a mermaid underwater swimming towards him, with the same blood red curled hair as the woman under him, the same enticing body. Reluctantly, but unwilling to frighten her further he pulled away and sat on the stoned ground, looking around suspiciously.

"Do you live here?" he asked, after hiding his dagger in his boot again and looked around with a frown. The cave was dark, wet, filled with loads of crap by a corner, illuminated by a few blowtorches strategically placed on corners, held by stones.

"You are wounded," Ariel said after standing up as quickly as she could, ignoring the pirate's question. Killian's eyes locked on her as she spoke, her voice was sweet when not frightened to death. She pointed at him and he followed her finger and only then saw the blood dripping from a hole on his left shoulder.

"Just a scratch," he said with a smile as he looked up to her again. Maybe the adrenaline stopped him from feeling pain before, but now that she mentioned it, he felt a slight sting.

Ariel walked around the cave to a pile of clothes she kept by a corner, pulling a heavy velvet cloak made of purple velvet. The cloak seemed old and ragged, but would do, despite when as a mermaid she would surface dry and seemingly as she never touched water, she was still soaked wet from the rain outside. She pulled on the cloak to warm herself.

Jones observed with curiosity as the woman quietly searched for her cloak, he looked around one more time. What was a beautiful woman like her doing inside a cave in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by piles of useless crap and a tiny boat? The poor thing was probably some crazy girl that ran away from somewhere or _someone_.

"What's your name?" he managed to ask when she tossed another brown cotton cloak to him. He grabbed in the air and observed as she walked towards him, the cave could explain the paleness of her skin.

"Ariel," she answered quietly as she approached him and sat by his side, laying her back against the stoned wall.

"Ariel, do you like this cloak?" he asked, glancing at her beside him and gesturing to the cloak she gave him.

"Not particularly," Ariel frowned with the question and shrugged. Jones nodded and ripped a huge piece from it.

"Need your help to stop the bleeding," he said casually as Ariel observed him, her eyes wide again. "Can you help me wrap it around my shoulder?" he asked, already taking off his coat and his shirt.

Ariel stared at his defined body, his strong arms had some drawings on them, his left upper arm had the outlines of a pirate ship with something she couldn't read written underneath, while his right upper arm had the pirate symbol: the skull and bones. She took the piece of cloth as he handed it to her and started to wrap around his shoulder, under his left arm.

"What is this?" she asked shyly, pointing with her eyes at the ship tattoo. He frowned at her question.

"A tattoo…?" he replied, confused. Ariel noted he thought her question was way too stupid.

"I mean, what are the words?" she tried to sound casual. "I don't know how to read."

This seemed more convincing, as his frown disappeared and gave place to a sincere smile as he noted her cheekbones reddening.

"It says Lost Soul," he said, observing her cautiously. "It's the name of my ship."

"Oh," she nodded, and glanced at the tattoo again, before making a strong knot on his shoulder after she finished wrapping. "And what is your name, pirate?" she asked with a shy smile, looking back at his eyes, when he dressed his shirt and coat again.

"Killian Jones," he answered and laid his back against the stone again, looking around one last time before locking his eyes on hers, now in front of him.

"Do you live here?" he tried again, suspiciously. "Alone? In a cave?"

"There's a small island outside," she answered defensively. "The cave protects me from storms and dangers."

"How did you even get here?" Jones tried to sound less judgmental, but inside his mind rang with questions.

"Are you hungry?" she didn't answer and stood up. Killian found it, all of it actually, way too suspicious and stood up after her.

"Yes, a little," he lied; he wasn't hungry at all, just wanted to keep her distracted. He followed her when she nodded and walked towards the boat.

"I will try and find some fish outside," she said when she noted him beside her, and then she looked outside. "The storm's passed, it won't take long."

"I bet," it was all he said, before he grabbed her by the wrist and jumped into the water pulling her with him.

Ariel tried restlessly to pull away from him, but he was too strong, he dived down and took her with him. When they were down enough, he managed to get her by the waist and pull her closer, he took her cloak off and bumped her back against his chest as he held her tight against him, his other hand he took to her mouth and covered it along with her nose, blocking her breathing. It was all a matter of time now, he observed cautiously and she wiggled in his arms and soon enough started to become weake, it was then that he felt her legs changing, he looked down and saw right in front of his eyes as her long legs transformed into a long bluish green mermaid fin. He _knew_ he hadn't gone crazy.

* * *

_A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! Please keep them coming ;)_


	4. Chapter III

_A/N: Some people asked me via PM if we'll ever see if Ariel was caught by the Regina/Rumplestilskin curse in this story and all I can say without spoiling everything is that we'll see what happens to her regarding the curse. But it will take a while, as you guys could notice in the Prologue, Zoso was still the Dark One and we're still only in the beginning of the story. Lots of things and adventures will happen before Jones even becomes Hook._

_This is somewhat of a fill in chapter. Please, bear in mind that Jones/Hook is a pirate and it's pretty confusing for him what Ariel is._

_Thanks so much for all the reviews! You are all wonderful! Please keep them coming, they're the fuel of my writing engine! :)_

* * *

**III**

Jones released the mermaid immediately and quickly found himself on the stony ground of the cave, staring down at the water in a matter of seconds.

His heart was pounding inside his chest, he was unsure if he felt relieved or frightened to confirm his suspicions. He did think for a second that if maybe he was wrong and ended up drowning the woman and having to wake her up, he'd needed to think of a better excuse than _'Well, I thought you were a mermaid' _when she woke up. But when he saw her transforming her legs into a shinning fin, his heart started racing unsure of what to do. His immediate reaction was to get away from her as fast as he could.

The pirate captain luckily never crossed paths with any mermaids, but the stories he heard haunted his mind as much as any other pirate, sailor or simply any men out there. Mermaids were beautiful creatures that entered the minds of sailing men and haunted their thoughts with mesmerizing voices to lure them into the sea. He heard stories from the drastic point of pirate captains tying their hands to the wheel and crashing on rocks to the _clearly_ lies of men who said they'd kissed mermaids and survived to tell the tale. But nothing scared him or any men out there more than imagining the mermaids feasting on their dead poisoned bodies after a simple kiss.

He observed as Ariel's blood red hair waved underwater and she swam confusedly in circles there for a long seconds before emerging all the way up to her waist. She was naked now, he could tell, her long hair covered her breasts, but he could note the curves around the thick curls. Her eyes stared directly at him, like penetrating spears, shining with the dim light of the blowtorches in the cave.

Jones didn't hear song. He didn't hear a hiss or a voice; she simply stared at him in silence: hauntingly beautiful in front of him. He should take his dagger and kill her while she was still frozen looking at him. But he couldn't bring himself to do it; he simply stared back at her.

**x**

Ariel couldn't believe this was happening. She started losing her breath, like she had never before, as Jones held her strongly against him. She felt desperate, she never felt anything as frightening as losing her breath for the first time. She started to weaken and her vision started to fade to black. She had no choice, she had to transform or she would die.

When Jones let go of her, almost pushing her away, she swam in circles confused, feeling the breathing back in her lungs, as if no water at all ever touched her nostrils. She noted when he left the water and prepared for the worst: Killian would definitely try and kill her. But when after long seconds she noted no change in the water, she decided to emerge to the surface. Ariel met the pirate's eyes as soon as her eyes adjusted to the dim light of the cave and she stared at him in silence.

"I did not mean for you to see this," she managed to say after long seconds. Her voice was low; almost a whisper, but he could hear her perfectly.

"What _are_ you? You have legs… and_ this_? How? When? Why?" he mumbled the words confused, unable to organize his thoughts before speaking.

"It's a spell," she tried to answer his questions all together. "I made a deal in exchange for legs."

Killian frowned, confused and processed her words in his thoughts. A spell? The mermaid has legs; she can transform her tail - _fin_ - into legs. She can breathe on land and walk among men unnoticed. If he heard this from someone else, he'd never believe the words. The thought of a mermaid turning into a human and walking on land unnoticed repelled him for a second.

"Why didn't you kill me?" he gestured casually with his hand, trying to calm himself down. "Now, when I pulled you to the water," he added.

"If I wanted you dead I wouldn't have saved you in the first place," although her voice was the same low calm tone, he could feel a sharpness in it. Her expression still bore the same blank as before, her eyes seemed to penetrate his soul with every word she spoke.

The words cut him like a sword. She _saved_ him. Killian Jones was a pirate, but if there was something he almost prided himself on was his fair judgment and honour. He'd never hurt someone who saved his life on normal circumstances. _But this isn't a normal circumstance_, he repeated in his own mind, trying to pardon himself. _She was a mermaid, for hell's sake_! Still, his mind and heart felt the weight of his actions.

"Why don't you want me dead?" Jones asked after a few seconds of silence, trying to focus on the matter in hand: find out what this creature wanted from him.

For the first time he saw hesitation in the mermaid's eyes. Ariel broke eye contact with him and looked down, staring at the water, her expression was almost… _sad._

"I don't have an answer for that," Ariel answered sincerely, staring at the water in front of her. She took a few seconds before looking up at him again. "Why didn't _you_ kill me?"

"I…" he started immediately after the question, but trailed off. He still didn't know how he couldn't bring himself to simply slit her throat and be done with it before she decided to attack.

"I don't have an answer for that either," he confessed after a pause. He looked around the cave and to the water around her. "Are there others of you here?"

"No," she answered simply, but he noted a hint of choking in her voice and could swear he saw a glimpse of tears in her eyes for a split second, "There aren't more of me here. Or _anywhere_ anymore."

Jones stared at her, unsure of what she meant by her last sentences. He raised an eyebrow, suspicious and took another look around.

"I can prove it," she said, still lowly, her voice not choking anymore as she noted his suspicious glares around the cave.

"How?" he tilted his head to the side, approaching a step towards her, standing at the tip of the stone.

"I will sing a few notes," she explained. "Not enough to completely get you delusional, if you hear other voices joining mine, you'll know there are more."

Jones wet his lip with his tongue while he pondered on her words. This couldn't be an ambush, if she wanted to lure him she'd just sing and be done with it; she wouldn't need his permission to do so. After giving it some thought, he nodded in consent. She didn't seem to want him dead, but what about others of her kin? She said there were no more of her, but he found that hard to believe.

It took a few seconds before he started hearing a sweet voice inside his head. He stared at Ariel's eyes and watched as one of her red eyebrows rose and her lips gave room to a mischievous smile. She locked her eyes on his even deeper than before, although her voice sang a sweet melody that seemed for him to fill the entire cave, her smiling lips didn't move at all.

When Ariel noticed the confusion in Killian's eyes and he attempted to take another step towards her to the water, she stopped immediately. He blinked confused and looked around, the silent filled the cave again and the only thing that both of them could hear was the low sound of the flames burning the blowtorches.

"Hear anything else?" Ariel asked, although she knew the answer. Killian glanced at her and stood quiet before shaking his head in the negative.

"May I step out, or will you try to drown me again?" she asked, her tone sharper than before.

Killian nodded his head, choosing to ignore her needling comment, and observed with curiosity as the mermaid dived, grabbing the cloak he took off of her and threw it inside the cave, beside him. She then emerged again and closed her eyes. The colour of her fin seemed to take her waist and breasts, evolving her in the same dress he saw her wearing when he woke up next to her. The skirt of the dress flowed in the water as he watched her feet swimming graciously to give her balance, she reached for the stoned ground right in front of him and made an impulse over her arms to get out of the water. Killian offered a hand as she sat beside him to help her up.

Ariel looked suspiciously at the pirate's hand, and stood up ignoring his gesture. He took his hand to his pocket, visibly taking the hint that she wasn't over what he did to her and followed the red head with his eyes as she went again to the pile of clothes she had in one corner and dressed a pair of old ragged dirty boots. She did not look at his eyes once, walking in a disturbing silence.

"I'm sorry," he said after a deep sigh. She stopped where she was and turned to look at his eyes.

"What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Did he say he was sorry? A _pirate_ told her he was sorry? She couldn't believe her ears.

"Hey, don't get cocky about it," Jones raised his hands defensively, his usual smirk forming in his lips. "I shouldn't have… You know," he glanced at the water then back at her, "You saved my life, it wasn't a nice gesture in return."

"No, it wasn't," she agreed with him for the first time and let out a playful smile when he stared at her sarcasm. "Well, now you're going to starve."

"I'm not really hungry, you know," he followed her with his eyes as she walked towards him.

"Let's see for how long you won't be," Ariel replied as sharply as before, she kneeled by a corner and sat down.

"Where did you get all this crap from, after all?" he couldn't stop asking questions if it meant his life. This was all too odd for him.

Killian Jones tried to think of himself as a smart man, very perceptive and attentive to details. But he just couldn't make up what in the seven seas was happening around him. It was all out of place: a mermaid who could turn into a human saved him, brought him to a cave full of useless piles of crap, didn't seem to have any intention of killing him, wasn't afraid of him killing _her_ and simply didn't provide any plausible explanations to any of these facts, no matter how many questions he asked.

"I took if from villages I visited," she answered sincerely as she sat hugging her legs, supporting her chin over her knees.

Ariel wasn't happy with all these questions; she was actually quite annoyed with the fact that no matter how sincere she answered him, he didn't seem to believe a word she said. She couldn't entirely blame him for that attitude: he was a pirate. And she was a mermaid. Although visibly annoyed by the questions, she actually liked answering him. No one ever talked to her, not even when she visited the villages to steal things. She talked briefly, every time using a different name, but never actually had an _actual conversation_ and she enjoyed it, even an inquiring one as that.

"I wanted to learn the ways of your people," Ariel continued when he hesitantly approached her and sat in front of her, his legs stretched, one foot above the other, his arms also stretched behind him as he supported his weight on them.

"So you _have_ been to villages and kingdoms," he concluded out loud, she nodded her head. He liked to stare at her, even though she confused him, he felt too intrigued not to stare at her eyes, "You've talked to people."

"Very little," Ariel added and shrugged her shoulders. "We mermaids learn your language the same way a human child does. We hear you speak when you're close. But there are many things we can't understand, and…"

"And…?" he raised his eyebrows as she trailed off.

"We are scared of you," she admitted, avoiding his gaze and looking at his wet boots.

"_You're_ scared of _us_?" he asked, incredulousness filling his tone. "Your people _hunt _us for a living."

"We are born this way," she frowned and looked back at him. "At least we don't kill our own," she glanced at his wounded shoulder, "Well, other mermaids don't."

Jones was caught by surprise with that argument. He stared at her and noted when she looked down again, this time he could clearly see the tears in her eyes, glooming by the torchlights. He frowned at that. Was it something he said? He didn't say anything, _she_ did.

"What do you mean by other mermaids?" he asked cautiously as he noted by her sudden teary reaction this was a delicate subject.

"I don't want to speak of it," she choked on her own voice, but Jones never saw a tear dropping from her eyes. She shook her head and quickly changed the subject. "I can help you find your ship."

"I'll let you help me find my ship," he said sarcastically. Let you help? Only a pirate to speak like that. And smiled to himself. "If you speak of it. Whatever _it_ is."

"What?!" she frowned, appalled by his 'let you help' sentence.

"Asking _'What'_ when you don't understand something is very rude," he said, almost pompous. "We say _'excuse me'_ or _'I'm sorry'_."

"Are you making fun of me?" he watched as her eyes seemed to glow and was taken aback for a second. He laughed at the woman's reaction.

"You really don't like my kind," he said with a hint of laughter in his tone. "I can't imagine why you'd want to be among us and leave your own behind."

"I never said I don't like your kind," Ariel's expression seemed to freeze in a frown, confused at his words. "It's just that mermaids are… Different."

"Different how?" he asked with a smirk, as he led her exactly where he wanted with his riddles, "I'm sorry, I'm just having a hard time trying to understand why would you choose to leave the company of such lovely beautiful creatures to be among us, that, you know… _Hurt our own kind_."

"I wasn't content and I always," she had a hard time finding words to describe why she did what she did. He observed cautiously as her eyes wandered around, with a dreamy expression in them, "I always admired humans and how they… Have feelings and emotions and choices and… _Freedom_."

"You are a _mermaid_," for the first time Jones was starting to make sense out of all of this, but kept arguing either way. "You can travel the seas and go wherever you like. I can't think of a way to be freer than that, love."

"You will never understand," she shook her head and glanced back at his eyes. "We are bound to what we do. Our entire life is to lure and kill and disgrace lives. Your people do that, too, but at least you can choose not to."

"And what did you mean then by _'others mermaids don't'_? You did? Kill your own?" he got back at the question and smiled again to himself at she stared at his eyes, realizing how he riddled her to answer him.

"I—No, I didn't, not me," Ariel mumbled the words, talking faster than thinking. "I'd never— with my own hands, no, I couldn't."

"Then how?" Jones pressed the matter, realizing he was getting somewhere. He observed as the red haired took a deep breath, as if trying to organize her thoughts.

"When I made the deal to have legs," Ariel started and Jones grew engrossed at her words. "The Dark One came to me, in this very cave, and said he could grant my wish, if I told him where the mermaids hide."

_The Dark One._ Killian heard of him. Everyone heard of him. A powerful magical being that controlled some kings and lands. He tried to hide his surprise when she said his name, but failed miserably.

"He said he needed the skin of mermaid fin to find a desperate soul," Ariel continued her tale and observed cautiously Killian's reaction. He just seemed surprised and interested, not a hint of fear in his eyes. "I thought he'd skin some of them, I thought he wouldn't even kill those he chose to take the skin from, but he killed them all."

Ariel looked down again, this time at her knees in front of her. Her eyes glooming with tears all over again, she let out a sob and Killian watched carefully, unsure of what to do or say. Again not a single tear left her eyes.

"That's why I couldn't hear other voices," he concluded when she kept staring at her knees and nodded quietly at him.

"I'm _not_ a kinslayer," her voice broke off the words. He frowned, not confused but… Concerned.

"Of course not, love," he said before thinking. "You didn't kill any of them. Magical beings are treacherous ones. And you are right," her eyes looked at his again with his last sentence and he smiled. "So are humans."

**x**

Killian inquired Ariel for what seemed like the entire night. She seemed a lot more relaxed after he agreed with her about humans being cruel with their own. He took the opportunity to ask if she still could travel as a mermaid as good as when she didn't have the ability to have legs and she confirmed that nothing changed in her mermaid form, although her senses were just like every human when she had legs. He asked if legend was true and she could indeed hear ship crews miles away as a mermaid and she also confirmed.

Ariel also had some questions of her own; she took books and showed him pictures asking what some things were. Killian happily helped her out. She learned that the _'small trident'_ was called 'fork' and was used by humans to eat, the reflecting device was a mirror, the thing the woman was using on her hair was a brush, and that every land had its own king and ruler. He also taught what a tattoo actually was and how she should _always_ carry a weapon with her if she ever decided to walk on land again with that dress of hers.

Ariel thought Killian was being nice, but a pirate is a pirate and he had other things on his mind. He agreed when she offered to go outside and look for his ship and lured them with her singing towards the cave, but said he would wait outside on her boat. When she left in the morning, suggesting that he only took the boat outside when he started to hear her singing voice again. She gave him a seashell and instructed him to bring it to his ear as soon as he started hearing her singing voice, so he wouldn't be as confused and would be able to sail outside on his own.

After Ariel left to look for his ship, Jones turned that cave upside down trying to find something. A map, a compass, something magical, something valuable that he could sell, but found nothing among the loads of things Ariel kept by corners.

He was lying on the boat, staring at the ceiling of the cave, lost in his thoughts when he heard the same singing voice as the night before. Immediately the mermaid version of Ariel came to his mind, staring at him inside the cave, hauntingly beautiful under the dim light… He shook his head and sat up, taking the seashell Ariel had given him to his ear: immediately Ariel's voice started to fade as he heard the sound of the waves coming from the shell. Useful trick if she hadn't killed her _entire_ kind for legs.

With his free hand, Jones roamed outside the cave and observed as his ship came towards him as if brought up by a magnet. Now and then he could see Ariel popping out of the water and jumping like a dolphin just to dive again. He watched and almost felt guilty for what he was about to do. _Almost_.

Ariel swam closer to him on the boat and rested her hands over the starboard, to look at him. She gestured with one hand for him to put down the seashell and he did as asked, the sound of her singing voice completely gone from his mind. She smiled when she heard the pirates shouting their Captain's name aboard the grand ship.

"Sorry, love," Killian said with a narrowed expression before taking both of Ariel's wrists strongly with his hands and pulling her aboard the boat.

She was as quick as he expected and as he pulled her up, her fin transformed rapidly into legs, her dressed waved with her wind as he pulled her aboard, not giving a slight chance of his crew seeing her fin. Ariel fell over him, but he held both of her wrists so easily that before she could realize he had tied both of her hands together in front of a body with a rope that he carefully put on the boat when he searched Ariel's cave after she was gone.

"What are you doing?" Ariel groaned when he pulled her aside, sitting her properly on the boat.

"You're coming with me," he said casually as he roamed towards his ship. He took a look at her mouth gaping indignantly. "You're _not_ a prisoner, I'm not going to hurt you, but I can use your knowledge of these waters and this whole luring men thing you do," he winked at her with a smile.

"You could have asked," was all she said as she let out a frustrated breath. She didn't even try to fight it.

"Would you come if I did?" Jones asked as he carefully stopped roaming and the boat touched his anchored ship. He stood up and thanked the calm still water when he was quickly able to grab the ropy ladder his crew threw overboard for him to climb.

"No," she answered grumpily and looked up at him as he gestured for her to stand up.

"Grab it on a side only," he instructed glancing at one side of the ladder. While she stood up with difficulty, but managed to lean her tied hands on the ship to maintain balance.

"Up you go, ladies first," he said with that same mischievously smirk as always when she grabbed one side of the ladder. "Take your time, I promise not to look under your skirt."

"I should have listened when you said humans are treacherous, too," Ariel replied grumpily, looking straight at his eyes. He nodded.

"Should have," he agreed with her and looked up. "We don't have all day, sweetheart. Make sure to hide those tied hands of yours behind your skirt when you step on board."

Ariel sighed deeply and started to climb with difficulty, but quickly got ahold of it. With her hands tied and being able to hold only one side was a lot harder, but she managed, one foot after the other. She shot a look down and noted that at least the promise of not looking under her skirt he kept, for the pirated looked away, holding the ladder with one hand and the other up maintaining his own balance.

"Ahh, don't be mad at me," Ariel heard him saying loudly while she climbed between sighs of frustration. "You wanted to be among us, consider it an adventure!"

When Ariel finally reached the main deck of the pirate ship she met dozens of questionable eyes over her. A dark skinned man helped her to come aboard, but touched her no further once she found her balance. Silence filled the deck and all those eyes made Ariel feel smaller, she looked down at Killian climbing up and rushed him in silence, never wishing more to have the smirky pirate beside her.

Killian climbed a lot quicker than Ariel and jumped on board as he reached the top of the ladder and pulled it back on board. The men cheered at the sight of him and seemed to completely forget Ariel by the starboard; they screamed, hugged and even kissed their captain. Ariel noted how this cheering had a lot different tone than the one she saw the peasants give Prince Eric when he docked in the village. It seemed a lot more sincere.

"Alright, Captain," the dark skinned man said, an octave higher. "All beautiful and dandy, but who in seven hells is this woman?" he finished and the laughter and screams ceased and all eyes were on Ariel again.

"_This_ woman?" Killian said as he walked towards Ariel and cut her rope with a dagger before his crew even noticed, then took an arm to her waist, embracing her by his side. Ariel shot a killing look at him, but would never admit the strange shiver she felt running up her spine at his touch.

"She saved my life," Killian continued and the men cheered all over again. Ariel shrugged at all the noise and kept her narrowed curious look.

"That's wonderful," the dark skinned man said after his own brief cheer. "But she's _still_ a woman, that's bad luck."

"Nah, don't be superstitious, my friend," Killian gestured apathetically with his free hand, taking the chance to squeeze Ariel's waist with his other one. "Ariel here has lived her entire life in the sea. She knows every route and every ship out there," the men looked from their Captain to Ariel multiple times. "Ain't that right, love?" Killian finished, squeezing Ariel's waist one more time.

Ariel looked from Killian to all the questionable eyes of the pirates around her, she nodded and managed a faint smile. The man cheered again and Killian looked at Ariel, leaning his face towards her, speaking very close to her ear as he observed his drunken crew already taking barrels of wine out.

"You could have always jumped back on water," he whispered close to her ear, but his eyes still on his crew. Ariel felt the same shiver again, this time on her neck, "But you didn't."

"But I didn't," Ariel repeated and he distanced his face from her neck to look at her eyes. To his surprise he saw a smirk very similar to his in the mermaid's lips. He squeezed her waist playfully one more time before letting go of her and joining the others.


	5. Chapter IV

**IV**

Jones offered Ariel his own quarters, since he rarely ever slept there at all. He did warn her that now and then he could crash in, and after a disapproving look in the mermaids eyes, he explained he'd leave a hammock there and wouldn't actually join her. _Unless invited_, he made sure to add playfully with that smirk of his.

The room was impressively tidy and luxurious for a pirate ship, Ariel saw things there she had never seen before. He showed her something called a bathtub and said she could wash herself there, just needed to ask for help to get water. The bed was comfortable and soft and the table with a map carefully of all the kingdoms painted on top fascinated her. The entire ship was quite beautiful and conserved, like no other pirate ship Ariel had ever seen before.

Jones explained to her he inherited the ship when the last captain, who found him as a boy stranded on an island, passed it down to him when he died and that he acquired the grand ship by stealing it from King George's father, King William. The deceased captain painted the ship and turned it into tone of the fastest grandest pirate ships ever to set sail.

Ariel admired how Jones spoke of his ship, as it was the most precious thing in the world for him. He also spoke highly of his crew, Ariel met all sorts of men aboard his ship: from the mysterious dark skinned sailing master name Hugo to the old and frail cooper that went by the infamous Dope Eye nickname. Most sailors took some time to get used to her presence on board, and Ariel noted glares and glances hidden all around. And so did Killian, but someone else entirely helped her up with that, someone she hadn't met until that afternoon.

"Ariel, this is Milah," Killian introduced when he entered his cabin accompanied by Ariel and a beautiful woman with dark hair and sparkling green eyes waited for them there.

Milah wore brown trousers, long boots, a puffy shirt and a coat with a corset over it. Her hair had a few braids, it fell graciously in curls over her shoulders, her skin was very lightly tanned and contrasted with her light eyes in a very seductive way. She met Ariel with a warm smile on her lips; a smile Ariel had never received from anyone.

"So, you're Ariel," Milah said, her voice was strong yet sweet. Killian held the door open observing as Milah gestured for Ariel to come closer.

"Milah will help you with more… proper… clothes," he said and Ariel glanced at him before he nodded as a farewell and left the cabin, closing the door behind him.

Ariel had absolutely no idea there was another woman on board. The way the sailors stared and turned their nose at her, it seemed like the idea of a woman on board was the last thing they wished for. But there stood Milah, beautiful and seemingly very much used to their style.

"I reckon you're wondering how I got myself here," Milah said with an emphatic smile. Ariel nodded as the brunette took her by the hand and took some pieces of clothing she had laid down on the bed for her.

"Well, my tale is a bit different from yours," Milah started as she gestured for Ariel to turn around and helped her strip off her dress. "I fell in love."

"Jones?" Ariel asked, curious. Milah took her dress carefully and placed it over the bed. She then gave Ariel a comfortable piece of undergarment, and helped her get dressed when she noted the red head's difficulty with it.

"No, no, though he _did_ take the blame for it to help his friend," Milah smiled and helped Ariel, one leg after the other and then did the same with a black pair of trousers very much like hers.

"I fell in love with Jones' quartermaster, Jack," Milah continued with her calm voice and helped Ariel with the shirt and the coat.

"Fell in love?" Ariel tried to sound casual, but failed. Milah paused what she was doing and glanced at the mermaid's eyes. Ariel was very curious about what 'falling in love' was. She had a notion about it, and she had never felt it; it was a human feeling. She wanted to know what it meant.

"Yes, Jack helped me run away from my life and Jones was kind enough to accept me here, as if I were his own sister as he considers Jack his brother," Milah said after a silent consideration of Ariel's sudden interest in her story. "Don't think it was easy for me, though. It happened very much like you, although the crew respected me, they shot me the same glances they shoot at you. But worry not, sweetie, they will come around."

Ariel held her breath as Milah finished lacing a corset around her tiny waist. She felt her entire body becoming contracted, and doubt profusely when Milah assured her she would get used to it.

"Now, that's much better," Milah said when Ariel turned to face her, the brunette gave her a smile. "When Jones told me of your dress, I knew I had to do something. I don't have many clothes that fit you, but I fixed this a bit, they will do until we find you something more fitting."

"Thank you," Ariel replied sincerely. Milah was the only person who had been genuinely nice to her. Not only on that ship, but her entirely life. She didn't know why, but she felt like crying.

"Worry not, sweetie," Milah put a few locks of Ariel's curls behind her ear. "These men will respect you as they respect their captain, be very attentive of what you say and do and they will stop with the glares with time."

Ariel figured Milah probably thought her teary eyes were of insecurity. She wanted to tell her it wasn't; it was because she had been nice to her. But she didn't know how to say that without sounding absolutely ridiculous or even suspicious, so she simply nodded and watched as Milah walked towards the door.

"Milah?" Ariel called and the brunette turned around to look at her. "What did you run away from?"

"Fate," Milah replied with a sad smile and looked away from Ariel's eyes for a second. "The Captain wanted me to call him as soon as you were ready. We'll speak later, hm?"

"Thank you," Ariel said one more time before Milah left her.

She took her dress with her hands and folded it to keep it in a corner. It wasn't long until Killian entered the room and stopped short when he saw her. He measured her from head to toe, very slowly.

"Much… _Safer_," he said as he closed the door behind him and turned to look at her. "I do have a very pertinent question, though," he walked towards her and glanced at her dress. "When you transform, your… _thing_… Becomes this dress, right?" Ariel nodded, frowning. "If you don't have it when you transform into a mermaid, when you do transform again, will you be _naked_?"

Ariel stared at his eyes. In fact she hadn't thought about it, but the smile in the captain's lips showed he wasn't simply curious about the dress, but rather if she'd be naked.

"I haven't tried," Ariel replied and he nodded, after clearing his throat.

"I guess I—we will see someday," Jones said more to himself than to her. Ariel rolled her eyes either way.

"I don't see what was wrong with the dress," she stated, changing the subject of him seeing her naked.

"It's enticing, shows too much," Killian answered casually.

He did notice the fact her dress was way too light and revealing ever since he met her, it looked a lot more than a pretty undergarment than anything else. But back then he was too busy trying to understand what she was and what she'd do with him to actually let his testosterone take over his senses.

But after the first day with Ariel on board and with his guard down, he found himself unable to avoid staring at her curves. And if he was losing control, he could only imagine his crew. He had to take care of it before something happened, so he went to Milah for help. Now, to explain why to Ariel, was a whole different deal.

"But I'm not in mermaid form," Ariel shrugged, confused and watched as leaned his body against the painted table, crossing his arms. "My breasts were even covered!" she protested.

"Yes, I know," he did. He noticed. A lot more than he'd ever admit, he still had to make her understand, though.

Ariel was considerably small of height; in front of him her eyes would meet his clavicle. He stared down at her with a smile, hoping she'd understand why wearing that dress could be a problem.

"Love, these men haven't seen a woman in months," he started as she walked towards him and folded her own arms, standing in front of him. He explained patiently, he couldn't hope for her to understand this out of nowhere. "And even if they had one yesterday, you are a mermaid, although your fin is not wiggling about and your singing is not driving them mad, you're too beautiful for your own good."

"Do you think they would…?" she started. Killian tilted his head to the side.

"If they did, they'd be breaking a rule," Jones answered as he ran his eyes over her figure. Still beautiful, but a deal less 'in his face' enticing. "I told them not to touch you, but the sea drives some men out of their minds. You know all about it."

"Oh yes, I do," contrary to Killian probably thought she could relate, the memory that came to her mind was of Prince Eric over her. She felt a rush in her stomach all over again and shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"Now, I didn't bring you here only for this," Jones gestured for her to sit down on a chair by the table and she did as asked.

"I have no idea why you decided to come aboard and not escape," he started, folding his arms again. "The way I see things, I am in debt with you. Twice actually, first you save me, and then I almost kill you in return. This wasn't nice. But I am an honorable man and won't ask your reasons for being here. I will accept it in silence, consider it a token of my appreciation for you not feasting on my poisoned body."

Ariel observed as he talked and ignored his joke, he smiled at her seeing how it irritated her for him to mention her mermaid nature. By then she was already used to Jones endless needling jokes, flirts ans smirks, and didn't take any of it personally anymore.

"What do you want me to do?" her question impressed him. Jones raised an eyebrow and nodded his head with a 'fair enough' expression.

"You know these waters like no one else," he glanced at the kingdoms painted on the table. "And you can spot ships miles away."

"I need to be in mermaid form to do so," she pointed out. "And I can only transform in water, preferably salt water. Or I can lose my breath and die."

"Like a fish," Killian concluded thoughtful, with a nod. Ariel didn't like the comparison, but thought of no better example, so she nodded back.

"We're heading to Phrygia," Killian turned around to point to Ariel where Phrygia was on the table; a grand kingdom in the east of the map. Ariel knew that land, never been close to it, but knew it and now knew its name. She nodded, interested.

"This is King Midas' kingdom," he explained, noting the mermaid's curious eyes. "Now, Midas is friendly to us, but that always comes with a price. We'll dock there so I can sell some things we gently took from King George," he pointed at a kingdom northwest "Rumour has it King Midas is after a magical lamp, but Captain Herald's price to give him the map to the treasure of Agrabah is one the king is not pleased to pay. Herald wants to marry Midas' daughter, Princess Abigail."

"Now," Killian lied against the table again, looking at Ariel's curious eyes. "Captain Herald isn't a friend, but not our foe either. He has the map, he's there in Phrygia trying to negotiate with Midas, and I know the king won't accept. We need to get the map from Herald."

"And how do you plan to do it?" Ariel listened intently to Jones, as if he was her mentor in this whole thing. And wanting or not, he actually was.

"That's when you come," he pointed at her and winked with a smile. "As I said, Herald isn't friend or foe, and I'd rather have him on my good side. Too many people are on my bad side. You are going to get to his _bed_ side," he pointed at the comfortable bed with his eyes.

"Do you want me to seduce him?" Ariel raised her eyebrows. Killian observed carefully her reaction, preparing to convince her with some arguments, but to his surprise the mermaid's next sentence wasn't 'how dare you!?', but…

"How?" Ariel's expression did not show a hint of disappointment, offended or anything. Simply curious, in fact she was rather excited about it.

"You don't even need to be in your mermaid form," Killian explained almost excitedly. "Put on that dress of yours, the rest is done. There will be some running hands, but I trust you don't really care if you have a goal," Ariel smiled at that. "He keeps all his precious possessions on a pocket inside his coat," he tapped the left side of his chest. "Just get your hands there, take something that feels and looks like this," he took a parchment from the table and handed it to her. "And leave the tavern."

"Sounds easy," Ariel ran her fingers over the parchment to get accustomed to the feeling of it on her skin. Jones nodded at her statement.

"It is, he loves the ladies and gets very distracted with them," he replied sincerely. "He won't even know it was us, and when he does find out, he can't blame us for him being an easily distracted man."

Killian knew why Ariel wasn't offended: first, she was a mermaid, seducing men was almost her profession. Secondly, she didn't grasp what that meant for humans. She didn't have prejudices and formed opinions about almost anything that belonged to his world. One proof of that was all the things she genuinely stole from villages only to learn, and how she didn't shoot the slightest judgmental look to anyone on his ship. From him to Hugo, frail and dreamy Dope Eye and even the sailors that still turned their noses at her presence on board: Ariel didn't judge, simply because she didn't have a base to compare to. Killian admired that more than anything else in the red head.

**x**

After discussing his plans for Captain Herald with Ariel, Jones left the cabin with a simple 'as you were', and even though Ariel was curious with the whole pirate ship thing, she still took some moments to leave the cabin.

Although Jones gave Ariel a full pass on the ship, except below deck where the sailors slept, a cabin next to his that belong to his quartermaster and the big room below decks goods were stored, Ariel didn't like to walk about much. Eyes were constant in her, and she had a feeling they weren't only because her dress showed too much, as Killian assured her it was.

Ariel stepped on main deck shyly, as she had done the past few days. She walked around the main deck and observed as sailors carried on with their duties. The sea was calm and still and Ariel could see the sight of land not many miles away. She leaned on port, resting her weight of her elbows and watched as a sailor approached her: Jack.

Jack looked a bit older than Jones, but not much. He was taller than Jones, though and his shoulders were a lot broader; he had strong arms and a big figure. His hair was black, with a few natural shades of blonde due to the sun, his beard was very much like Jones and his eyes were a bright light blue. He was a handsome man with the warmest smile Ariel had seen from a sailor on that ship; it wasn't mischievous or flirting like Jones' smirks, it was a welcoming smile. As welcoming as Milah's, Ariel could see why the brunette liked him.

"How's the Jolly Roger treatin' you, lass?" he had a much stronger accent than Jones or Hugo.

Ariel glanced at him as he stopped beside her. She hadn't had the chance to meet all sailors yet; everyday she'd see a new face that turned his nose at her. She had seen Jack, and Jones told her his name, but she wasn't properly introduced to him.

"Jolly Roger?" she frowned looking at the pirate's eyes.

"Aye, it's her name," he tapped the wood on the rail port. Ariel looked even more confusing. She remembered Jones telling her Lost Soul was the name of his ship. Unless…

"He _lied_ to me," she scoffed lowly, indignantly. The pirated was the one to frown this time.

"Who lied to you, lass?"

"Your Captain," Ariel shook her head and smiled. There were many things about Killian Jones that she still had to figure out. "He said her name was Lost Soul."

"Nay," the pirate shook his head. "He probably said it 'cause he didn't trust you yet."

"Probably," she said lowly to herself. Wanting or not, Killian Jones had an agenda for her. Whether or not this bothered her was a whole different story.

"Name's Jack," the pirate smiled at her.

Ariel smiled back, besides Dope Eye, Milah and Jones, he was the only one who talked to her all these days. Hugo didn't look at her suspiciously, but made no effort to speak with her unless necessary. The others remained shooting her looks.

"These mates gonna take a few to get used to you," Jack said, as if he heard her thoughts, he looked at the pirates on deck staring at her. "Fear not, these are young lads, they cling to stupid superstition. Lad's gotta have long time on sea to believe not everything is as it seems."

"They think a woman is bad luck," Ariel shrugged, remembering when she came aboard. Jack nodded but right after scoffed apathetically.

"Many beauties like yourself were great pirate captains," he touched her shoulder gently. "Don't worry, lass. They'll come around. Jones trusts you, so should we."

Ariel hadn't really thought about that this way. If she was aboard his ship and not in chains, it meant Killian Jones trusted her. How could he trust her knowing what she was? Perhaps it was the whole pirate code thing and the fact she saved his life. She should enquire him about that, but apparently not so soon.

Ariel and Jack's attention were drawn to Jones and Hugo coming from below decks, talking something about selling prices, barrels and a man named Linn. Jack observed Ariel's curiosity and knowing that the girl minding their 'trade and selling business' was something that wouldn't please the crew or even Killian himself, he took her attention away.

"Ever been to Phrygia?" Jack touched her shoulder again and when she glanced at him he pointed at the land getting closer by the second.

"No," Ariel shrugged again, shyly. She had been close enough, as a mermaid, she heard sailors saying everything King Midas touched turned to gold, but she never been to Phrygia.

"The King almost literally shits gold," Jack explained. "But he's always wanting more. We are not the ones to complain," he let out a snorted laugh, Ariel smiled. "They have good rum there. Ever drank rum?" Ariel shook her head. "Oh, you have to try it!"

"It changes people," Ariel had her share of sailors drunk with the smell of so-called rum. Jack frowned at the way she spoke, but chose to ignore it. He did find her an odd young woman.

"Not if you know when to stop," he commented, but somehow Ariel doubted they knew when to stop.

"Or you never stop, so you don't know you've changed," Jones was the one to speak from behind them. When Jack and Ariel turned to face him, the Captain leaned his elbow on his sailor and gestured to the red head.

"Ariel here is going to help us with our little Herald problem," Jones explained and Jack widened his eyes, nodding in consent. "She might need some rum indeed."

"Your first round is on me, sweetheart," Jack winked at her.

Ariel wondered what Jones meant by his last sentence. But she wouldn't take long to find out, for Jack started shouting commands. They were about to dock.

**x**

As commanded by Jones and Hugo, Ariel waited in the cabin as they left with some other sailors for, as Jones put it simply for her, 'business'. They instructed her she was to accompany Jack later to the tavern to deal with Herald. Hugo looked doubtful she'd succeed, and even suggested in front of her for Jones to 'forget this madness' and leave her at Phrygia, that they'd find another way to get the map from Herald.

Jones considered his friend's suggestion with care, but said he was decided about Ariel and suggested his friend to overcome his fear of superstitions. Jack intercepted and said he trusted 'the red head' was ready. Ariel noticed Jack and Hugo were the only ones who actually spoke openly with Jones about anything. Surely the captain had a good enough relationship with his crew and they were allowed to question him, and Ariel could even bet they were all there by choice not slavery as she had seen in other pirate ships, but no one crossed the captain's opinions the way Hugo and Jack did, and Jones considered no other sailors like he did the duo. They had a bond Ariel was yet to discover the roots.

Ariel was observing the city by the small rounded windows of the cabin, she was wearing her dress and boots again, she stood on her knees over a cushioned chair, when the door opened and through it came Jack. She had been observing the city filled with lights and life for quite some time; the night had just fallen over Phrygia and she felt a cold in her stomach, wondering and hoping she wouldn't face anything like Eric there.

"Pardon my manners," he apologized as soon as he saw Ariel jump at the sound of the door. "Should've knocked."

"It's alright," Ariel smiled and stood on her feet, walking towards the quartermaster. He opened the door courteously for her to pass and closed behind her.

"Milah and I will be watching over you," he instructed as they walked to the main deck. "There ain't nothing to fear about Herald. He's not a violent lad with the lassies," he continued as if he even knew of Ariel's trauma, "Now, Jones wanted me to give you this," he took a sharp dagger from his belt, he took it from the small sheath to show her, "You should keep it inside you boot."

As they reached the deck, he made a gesture as if asking for the red head permission to touch her leg, she nodded with a smile and he went on his knee, respectfully lifting her skirt up to her knees, he attached the sheath of the dagger inside the boot and stood up.

"Now, let me buy you sum rum," he gave her a yellow smiled and Ariel laughed, amused at his good humor. They met Milah by port, the brunette took her by the hand and helped her out of the ship.

As soon as they left port and reached the city, Jack pointed a vividly illuminated tavern close enough to port and took some distance, watching as Ariel walked in front of him, Milah by his side. Ariel tried not to show how amazed she was by the city; she had been to villages, not real cities like this one. There were carriages and knights and ladies, peasants, children, endless chatter, horses and an open market selling all sorts of goods. Ariel wondered if she would have time to check it before setting sail again, but concentrated and entered the tavern.

**x**

As soon as she entered, Ariel looked behind and saw as Jack pointed at a man by the left of the tavern with his eyes, Ariel glanced immediately.

Captain Herald Williams wasn't as hard on the eyes as Ariel expected, the only major flaw the pirate captain had was a glass eye on his left socket. His good eye though was of a captivating dark brown. His hair was a dirty blonde that went to the middle of his back, tied up messily. He wore clothes very much like Jones and Jack, but he had a lot more jewels than any of the two, golden that shined with the lights of the tavern.

Ariel walked up to a table close to his and observed as he played a dice game with some other pirates, probably some of his crew. Herald noticed Ariel noticing him and raised his own mug when a busty waitress brought Ariel a filled mug. Ariel smiled at the captain and raised her mug at him; she shot a quick look to another table on the other side of the room, where Milah and Jack smiled reassuringly at her. She then took the mug to her mouth and drank the rum.

A strong taste filled Ariel's mouth; she closed her eyes and swallowed the liquid quickly. She had never tasted anything as awful as that, but she could bet humans wouldn't find their raw livers and hearts very tasty either. Perhaps she could become accustomed to that? She certainly became accustomed with the fruits and cooked fish she ate on the Jolly Roger. Maybe she could like rum, too? She took another long sip, this time swallowing it with less difficulty.

It wasn't until she finished the second mug Jack happily sent to her after she finished the first that Ariel stood up and walked towards Herald. She felt dizzy and hard to maintain balance, but all the same a very happy sensation took over her. She smiled almost without knowing it, and found herself leaning over to talk to a very excited Herald in front of her.

"Excuse me, captain," she said looking straight at the captain's eye. "Is this seat taken?" she asked glancing at the pirate's lap.

Herald let out a big smile and shook his head, tapping his right leg for Ariel to sit. She bowed and he laughed, and then she sat on his lap. As soon as she wrapped her arms around the captain's neck, she felt one of his hands going up her leg, under her dress. She felt confused, but not really scared; perhaps it was the rum. She stopped his hand over her thigh with one hand and then made a 'no, no' sign with her index finger.

"Not yet," she said. And he kept his hand there.

"What's your name, lass?" he asked excitedly and squeezed Ariel's thigh. Not the same squeeze as Jones' on her waist, but all the same she felt a shiver up her spine.

"Ariel," she whispered in the pirate's ear, her cold wet lips touched his earlobe slightly as she pronounced the words.

"I'm Captain Herald, beauty," the pirated raised his cup and offered a toast to her before drinking it. He was apparently very drunk for Ariel felt some drops of his rum staining her dress.

The sailors toasted at their Captain's name and resumed to their talking and games, a lot of other girls came around after Ariel and surrounded the other men. Ariel tried to focus, but she was having a rather good time. Now and then Herald would tell Ariel to blow on the mug they used to throw the dices, telling her it was for good luck. She laughed at the jokes and didn't seem to care for the captain's kisses on her cheeks and neck, but evaded fiercely for him to kiss her lips; it could be deadly.

When noting the captain and his sailors were way too drunk to notice what she was doing, Ariel slipped a hand inside Herald's coat. Her hand lingered there, caressing the pirate's chest over his shirt, before she felt on the top of her hand something very much like the parchment Jones showed her. She took it slowly from the inside pocket, waiting for the right moments to pull it out, moving her fingers carefully; when Herald played or laughed too loudly at someone's comment. When she held it completely on her hand, still inside his coat, she slipped her hand up towards the man's shoulder, and by the collar of his coat she took the parchment with her other hand, that rested on the captain's neck all along, now and then caressing his hair.

"I will refill this," Ariel said, dubbing a girl that did the same before her and pointed at the captain and another sailor's empty mugs with her eyes.

Before standing up, Ariel attempted to fix something on her boot and sneakily slipped the parchment inside. She then stood up and took the mugs with her hands. When she turned, Herald playfully slapped her butt. She wasn't pleased with that, but ignored and walked towards the main stony counter. The busty waitress gave her two new filled mugs and she returned to the table, placing it on the table. She then leaned again towards the captain.

"I must leave for a little while," she said sexily, her voice low.

Herald nodded with his head and didn't seem to notice when her hand slipped from his chest to his left hip, where he kept a dark brown bag with something Ariel made up as coins. The man leaned forward and became millimeters from Ariel's lips, but the mermaid nudged and the captain ended up kissing her neck before she stood straight, she picked up the trail of her skirt hiding the bag with it and curtsied, shooting a kiss in the air for him before turning around and leaving the tavern. Somehow none of what she had done felt terrifying as when Eric pinned her to the wall, perhaps it was all indeed a matter of choice.

**x**

As soon as Ariel left the tavern, both Milah and Jack stood up and left after her, but it wasn't until Ariel was far enough from the tavern that Jack and Milah caught up with her and they all stopped. Ariel took the map from her boot and handed to Jack, who analyzed it with care.

"You are a natural, girl," Milah said with a laugh, she glanced at Jack, "So, is this it?"

"Yes, it is!" Jack said with a smile and put the map in his coat pocket. He hugged Ariel. "Congratulations, Jones will be very pleased!"

"I took this, too," Ariel showed the small brown bag in her hand. "A congratulatory gift, maybe?" they all laughed.

"You were born for this," Milah hugged her by the side and they resumed to port towards the Jolly Roger.

Ariel had never felt so happy and part of something in her entire life. For the first time, having legs was worth it.

* * *

_A/N: Yes, I made Milah fall in love with someone else.  
This is an Ariel/Hook ship story. Although it will take some time for Ariel and Hook actually fall for each other (don't take the flirting seriously, Hook is a pirate, flirt is his modus operandi :P), I figured if Hook loved Milah, pairing him with Ariel wouldn't work. At the same time, I really like Milah (I wish they showed more of her), so I decided to keep her in my story. :)_


	6. Chapter V

_A/N: Hello everyone! I'm sorry it took me a bit longer to update this time (I usually update once a week, at least), but I've been a little busy. I'm really happy with all the views, faves and follows! Thank you so much! Please keep reviewing, it always makes my day... Seriously, I smile every time I get an alert that there's a new review! :D _

* * *

**V**

"I find this a lot better than rum," Milah said as she poured the wine in a tall tinned glass for Ariel.

Jack, Ariel and Milah were on the stern of the docked Jolly Roger. Ariel had put the coat Milah given her over her dress, since the night was a bit chilly. Milah sat by the red head side over some empty barrels, Jack stood leaned against the rail of the stern, smoking a pipe.

After Jack took the map to his cabin, they all returned to the city and Milah helped Ariel buy some more fitting clothes with the money she stole from Herald. Ariel also bought a small barrel of wine for Milah, who had stopped to taste it and said she loved it and the fine herbs Jack also stopped to taste, all gifts from the thankful mermaid for their kindness with her. They returned to the Jolly Roger shortly after; most of the crew would spend the night by the inns and brothels in the city, but Milah and Jack preferred to stay on the ship and invited Ariel to be with them. According to Jack, Jones would probably return soon as well as Hugo; they were probably finishing their business with Midas.

"This is much better," Ariel said after a sip of the wine she bought for Milah. It tasted very sweet, unlike the rum.

"I know! Isn't it?" Milah replied excitedly after taking a sip as well.

"Do you think Herald knows already?" Ariel asked shyly, shrugging.

"Nah, probably not," Jack replied, playfully blowing the smoke in the form of ringed circles. "Don't worry about it, lass, when he finds out his pocket money and his map are gone, it will still take a while for him to figure out it was you."

"If you say so," Ariel said with a smile and Jack winked at her. She took another sip and glanced at Milah. "How long have you been on the Jolly Roger?"

"Oh, a few years," Milah answered with that warm smile of hers and exchanged a look with Jack.

Ariel wanted to know about Milah. She had never met someone so nice and welcoming, but at the same time so fierce and decided of her actions as Milah. She figured she could learn much from the mysterious beautiful brunette, and somehow she fascinated her, her courage specially. Ariel never forgot the sad look in her eyes when she answered she ran away from fate. Ariel related to her, somehow, and she thought maybe, with time, she could tell Milah her secret. Maybe Milah would understand.

"I see it was a successful task," Jones voice brought Ariel from her thoughts.

She didn't even notice the noise the pirate's boots made when he came on board. He stopped by the trio and folded his arms, his smirk across his face. It wasn't until that night Ariel actually noted how _handsome_ he was. His dark hair and scruffy beard contrasted vividly with his skin, impressively very little tanned considering the amount of time he spent exposed to the sun, his light blue eyes were always very attentive and piercing to the soul, perhaps due to the black eyeliner around them. His always smirk seemed like a powerful weapon to him: to lure people into believing what he was saying or not believing him at all. It was as deceiving and as trustworthy as he always wanted to be, depending on the situation. For the first time ever since she met him she lost herself there, looking at him.

"… wasn't it, Ariel?" Jack finished whatever he was saying while Ariel analyzed Jones. Ariel didn't answer; Milah was the attentive one to follow Ariel's eyes while Jones walked to his friend to borrow his smoke.

"Ariel?" Milah elbowed the red head, who almost dropped her drink.

"Yes!" Ariel exclaimed as Milah finished bringing her back. She looked from Milah who scoffed her laugh to Jack and Jones, clueless to the two of them.

"Excellent," Jones said after blowing the smoke away from the ladies and handing the pipe back to his friend. "We set sail to Agrabah tomorrow."

The ones startled this time were Jack, who choked at the smoke and Milah, who swallowed a large sip of her drink with the sentence. Ariel, however, looked blankly at the trio.

"Agrabah? Are you out of your mind?" Jack asked, Jones shot a glance at him and scoffed.

"Yes, Agrabah," Jones said. "You two," he pointed at Jack then Milah. "Are the _last_ people I expected to believe in that nonsense curse."

"I'm sorry, I'm lost," Ariel said lowly, afraid if this 'curse' was something she should know as a human.

"Agrabah is a destroyed land," Milah glanced at Ariel to explain. Judging by the calm voice and expression in the woman's eyes, Ariel wasn't as naive for not knowing it. "A curse was cast and the land is haunted."

"Or so legend says," Jones pointed out as he walked around, he placed his hands over Ariel's shoulders when he stopped behind her. She felt her entire body shiver this time.

"Don't believe everything folks say," he leaned to the side to look at the red head's eyes when she turned her head to see him. "Just a few moons past I heard a tale inside the very tavern you were tonight, from a man who swore on his dead mother he kissed a mermaid and survived."

Ariel tensed up immediately; she looked intently at Jones eyes, he winked at her and squeezed her shoulders gently, before resuming walking as he talked.

"Now, we all know this is just not possible," Jones said and stopped by Jack's side, borrowing his pipe again. "Don't you agree with me, Ariel?"

"Yes," Ariel said lowly, Jones had his eyes fixed on her after the question, but as soon as she answered his eyes danced around the trio in front of him again.

"But we _do_ know that land has been abandoned for a very long time," Milah said. The brunette watched the whole scene between Jones and Ariel in silence, unsure of what to make of it. "Why doesn't Midas take his own fleet and go?"

"Because I offered him our services," Jones answered casually, taking an empty tinned glass and filling it with wine for himself. "Midas says we can keep anything we find, except for the lamp, and we all know there's an actual treasure there, he's only interested in the lamp."

"And what if we don't find the lamp, after all?" Jack asked, pondering cautiously.

"Then he saved himself some money for not shipping his crew to a dead end mission," Jones said, giving his shoulders before taking a long sip of wine.

"What does he want with a magical lamp?" Milah asked, frowning. "The genie thing, I know, but he can turn things to gold, his kingdom is rich _and_ fertile. I don't understand. Did he tell you why?"

"Something to do with a dragon that's been bothering his people up north," Jones explained and filled his glass again; Ariel noted how fast he drank. "I don't really care what he wants with a lamp that allegedly is magical, but no one trustworthy tells us it _actually_ is. No one's seen it working and the ones who did are buried in the sands of Agrabah."

"No one makes out alive with encounters with mermaids either," Ariel spoke this time. Jones glanced immediately at her and she gave him the same smile he always gave her, and then took a sip of her own wine. "Yet, I am very sure you believe they exist."

"With all my heart," he smiled back at her and took a sip of his wine as well. Milah, again, noticed the two exchanging looks and needles, but said nothing.

**x**

Ariel was sleeping on the comfortable bed, covered by the light silky sheets when she woke up abruptly. She sat up at once and felt something coming up her throat; she stood up quickly and took the coat to cover her dress. Barefoot she ran to the deck, every step making her head pound harder and harder. When she stepped out she felt the sun bathing her skin and hurting her eyes and whatever was coming up her throat reached her mouth. She grabbed the wooden rail of the starboard and vomited in the ocean at once. She stopped with her head down, waiting for more to come; and it _was_ coming.

"Oh, the _wonders_ of drinking," Jones sarcastic voice came from behind her. The pirate captain gently took the red head hair with his hand and held it in a ponytail.

"What is _that_?!" Ariel managed to ask indignantly before vomiting in the ocean again.

"_That_'s what happens when you drink more than you can handle, sweetheart," Jones leaned sideways against the rail, still holding the woman's hair. He looked down and observed as she choked and vomited over and over again, he made a disgusted face, but didn't really mind.

Jones waited for that moment all morning, he saw how much Ariel drank last night. One glass after the other, and he knew the mermaid had never really drink any alcohol in her life. It amused him to see her hung over, but he couldn't help to feel a bit sorry for the red head when she moaned in pain between choking and vomiting.

The Jolly Roger was sailing in the calm sea; it was already past midday when Ariel finally woke up. Jones left her, Milah and Jack shortly that night and went to sleep below deck, since he already had his share of brothels that night, he always preferred to sleep and rest by himself.

"Oh, I feel bad," Ariel mumbled lowly when she felt nothing else would come out of her. She rested her body weight against the rail and breathed restlessly.

"Yeah, I know," Jones frowned pitifully, remembering the first time he went through all of this… When he was _thirteen_. He let go of her hair, slid his hand to her shoulder and kissed the top of her head in pity.

"OI, YOU!" he screamed to a passing sailor, way too close to Ariel's ear and she felt as if his voice was inside her, her head pounded harder.

"Captain!" the young sailor stopped short at the captain's voice and glanced from him to the woman by his side.

"Fetch the Leech, send him to my cabin," Jones ordered, distancing from Ariel, but with his hand still on her shoulder. "Fetch some water for the tub as well, be quick about it."

"Aye!" the boy said right away and left immediately.

"Come on," Jones whispered in Ariel's ear, the mermaid mumbled something he couldn't understand. He helped her stand straight and kept his voice low. "We don't want sailors to think a full grown woman like yourself never had a hang over before, do we? Too suspicious."

Ariel mumbled something again while Jones helped her back to the cabin. The sailors stared, confused, but whenever the captain shot a look at them they went back to their duties quicker than rats running from cats. Too bad the head pounding, the dry throat and the twist in the stomach didn't allow Ariel to actually notice any of this and not to shiver to the pirate's touch like she'd done before. He sat her on the bed and she immediately fell down on her back, her hand on her head.

"Ohhh," she grunted curling up on the bed, feeling her entire body in pain. "Will it ever stop?"

"For what is worth, it will," Jones observed her with an amused smile on his face. "By the way, thank you for not vomiting on my ship."

"I hate to be human," Ariel mumbled lowly, but loud enough for Jones to hear. The captain laughed out loud at that.

"Yes, there's not much kick to it," he folded his arms and observed the red head in front of him. He still couldn't understand why a mermaid would want to be human, but he figured it should have something to do with that thing of people always want what they _can't_ have.

"Did you send for me, Captain?" the door opened and through it came a middle aged man, dressed very commonly and not like the other sailors, he carried a black bag with him.

"Ah, yes," Jones gestured to Ariel on the bed. "Our guest has some liquor problems. _Women_, you know…"

The Leech, or the Surgeon, was the ship's doctor. Ariel had never seen him before on board; he didn't seem to belong there at all. He sat by her side and took a few locks of her hair away from her face, measuring her temperature with his hand on her forehead. He proceeded to lay the red head straight and more comfortably on the bed and after mixing some little bottles he took from his bag, he gave the mixture on a chalice to her.

While the doctor treated Ariel, a few young sailors entered the cabin with buckets full of water and filled the bathtub with it. All of them shot glances at Ariel mumbling on the bed, but none dared to look for too long with their captain standing there and quickly left the cabin.

"Drink this," the Leech handed the chalice with the colourful drink to Ariel. "Drink a lot of water and get some rest. You will be fine tomorrow."

Ariel took the chalice and looked at it suspiciously, she glanced at Jones that observed the whole thing in silence with his arms folded, he nodded at her glance and she drank it at once. A bitter taste filled her mouth, but the Leech quickly gave her a glass of water to wash it away.

"She's fine, captain," the Leech stood up after putting away his stuff in the bag. Jones nodded at him and gestured for the Leech to leave. Jones approached the bed and looked down at Ariel.

"I will ask Milah to be with you," he said, looking down at the red head tired eyes. "Next time, be careful of how much you drink. Milah is a woman, but that one's got a liver stronger than most lads here."

"I didn't know—"

"Now, you do," he cut her. Ariel glanced up at him and he shot a scolding look at her.

"Thank you, anyway," Ariel said lowly and looked away from his eyes.

"I take care of my investments," Jones said cynically, already turning around to leave the room. "You're no use to me sick or dead."

"And here I thought you were being nice…" Ariel said in a scoff.

"I'm _always_ nice," Jones opened the door and glanced at the girl on the bed. "One thing has nothing to do with the other," he winked at her and left, closing the door behind him.

**x**

Milah had come to take Ariel to the main deck. It was their sixth day on sea; the sun was shyly rising on the east. They went through a minor storm on the second night, and then Ariel noted how skilled Jones and his sailing master were, for Hugo did not falter and the only destruction the rain and troubled waters left in the Jolly Roger were the knocked down furniture and few barrels, which in less than a couple of hours was all in place already.

Ariel only felt completely recovered the morning after the storm. Her stomach stopped aching and twisting, but her appetite wouldn't get better for the world. She was afraid to admit, but she really needed to taste some _human flesh_. It was disturbing even to her how much she wanted it. It wasn't something uncontrollable, but the thought would rarely leave her mind and the fruits and cooked sea specialties wouldn't satiate her hunger at all. By the sixth day, she learned to live with that need and dared not to speak of this to anyone.

"There's Agrabah," Milah said as Ariel accompanied her to the bow of the ship. The sun illuminated the land a few miles from them.

Ariel followed Milah's finger and saw an orange canvas with the ruins of what seemed like an ancient palace and city, the sand mountains surrounded the forsaken land in a terrifying yet intriguing scenario. The heat got stronger as they approached the place.

"I am guessing we will anchor here and take boats ashore?" Ariel suggested and Milah nodded proudly.

Ariel's little amount of time aboard the Jolly Roger had given her some notions about sailing, Milah had taught her a lot. She also tried to help her teaching her to sword fight, but Ariel had proven to be a complete _disaster_ in that area. She couldn't coordinate her feet and her hands if it meant her life, but Milah was supportive enough to say that she needed not to fear, if it came for her to fight, she'd be already desperate enough and it would come naturally. All that she needed to know was to stick her enemy with the pointy end.

"Do you really think it's haunted there?" Ariel asked, folding her arms in front of her body. She was wearing black trousers, black boots and a white loose shirt, just like the brunette in front of her; they couldn't bring to put on the coats for the heat was too much and Milah helped Ariel hold her hair up in a messy bun.

"I don't really know," Milah said lowly, as some sailors walked up and about around them. "But I'm sure whatever we're going to face there, it won't be easy."

"You, _ladies_, won't be facing anything," Jones came from behind Ariel and joined the two of them, followed by Jack and Hugo.

"Why?" Milah asked indignantly. Jones raised a sarcastic eyebrow.

"Because we have no idea what we will find there," Jones replied after a quiet consideration.

"Why, I thought you didn't believe the curse?" Milah said mockingly, the captain laughed at her.

"I don't, love," he answered. "But what can guarantee me there aren't any _real_ threats there? I know," he added when the brunette opened her mouth to speak. "I know you could be of help, but really, no need."

"I'm not asking your permission, captain," Milah smiled, Jones scoffed. "I'm going there. I want to see it with my own eyes."

"Oh, I want to go, too," Ariel spoke this time. Jones glanced at her and rolled his eyes.

"If you both do slow us down," Jones said gesturing to the women. "I will leave you there. _Forever_," he added with a smile and shot a look at Jack by his side, who smiled back and nodded with his head.

**x**

The ruins of Agrabah surrounded the small group in whole, the more they made their way among the tiny streets and valleys, with ashes and remains of what used to be a wonderful vivid exotic city, the more it seemed the sand mountains swallowed them in.

Jones, Jack and Hugo led the group, followed closely by Milah and Ariel and a dozen other sailors behind them. Most of the others stayed aboard the Jolly Roger, and they reached the Agrabah beach with two small boats, leaving one man behind on each, prepared to row away in case the others returned running for rescue.

Ariel and Milah looked around curiously, now and then the brunette would point the ruins of houses, markets and big walls that made Ariel believe the city must've been a maze even when filled with life. Jones, Jack and Hugo followed the map directions masterfully and didn't pay much attention to things around them. The green young sailors behind Ariel and Milah looked around suspiciously jumping at the sound of every step around them, with swords in hands.

"The palace of Agrabah," Jones announced when they stopped at the ruins of the palace in front of them. Ariel and Milah looked from behind him cautiously.

"What's left of it," Milah pointed out.

The beautiful columns of the palace stood fallen to their sides in front of the pirates, the golden details of the ceilings and windows remained shattered but beautiful still, the walls of the actual palace however seemed non-existent.

Jones looked inside the column to his far left through a broken window, then back at his map. The captain looked around for a second and had his attention drawn when his sailing master called out.

"Captain," Hugo called, Jones glanced at him and the man pointed at an enormous piece of white beautiful marble on their right, escaping from under it they could see a pair of black boots, suggesting someone clearly had the misfortune to be smashed by the marble.

At their Captain's command, Jack and Hugo took the piece of marble with their hands and moved aside. An immense and staggering scent of decomposed human remains filled their noses instantly, along with a much stronger hint of the smell of sand that had been following them ever since they entered the city.

Jones approached the skeleton and kneeled beside it. Ariel and Milah exchanged a look and approached Jones to look over his shoulder, the captain didn't seem to be bothered at all by the sight or the smell. He analyzed carefully the body: it seemed corroded by some kind of acid, but the captain couldn't make any other smell beside the natural of human decomposition and the sand. He then ran his fingers over the almost intact uniform the man wore and stopped at the coat of arms on the left of the body's chest; a half moon with a wolf howling at its sight.

"Quutamo," Milah took the captain's words and he nodded.

"Lads," Jones stood up without saying a word about the body, he shot a quick glance at Ariel who seemed just as confused as everyone else, then looked at the sailors with shoves that accompanied the team and pointed at the shattered window in the column.

"Inside, now," he ordered and the men hesitantly passed by him, glancing at the rotten corpse before entering the column, as commanded.

"No other bodies," Jack said almost in a whisper after the others entered the column. "Just this one."

Jones exchanged a look with his sailing and quarter master in silent consideration of everything around them, now and then he'd hear his green sailors inside the column and the echo of them breaking and digging in the ruins and sand inside.

The pirate captain could never deny that everything seemed odd there. There really wasn't any other body around, only the corroded one with that weird smell of sand all around it. But all the heat around them didn't allow him to ponder properly on all of it; besides, he was there for the treasure of Agrabah and he wouldn't leave without it.

"It's so damn hot here," Ariel's voice brought him back from his thoughts.

The red head sat by some pieces of broken wood, marble and stone beside him, seeking the shade of the fallen column.

"Unusually warm," Hugo said and looked intently at his captain. Jones wasn't the only one to notice the odd signs around them.

Milah approached Ariel and sat by her side, the brunette took a wineskin with water from her belt and handed to the red head. Ariel had sweat all over her collarbone, her white skin shined with the sun and she seemed the most bothered by the heat, she wore only a loose puffy shirt and the pants and boots, but she felt as if she were wearing all of her coats together.

"Should've brought some water," Milah said as Ariel drank the water.

"I've never been in so much heat," Ariel said lowly, shrugging her shoulders.

"To be fair, it _is_ unusually hot, this city is surrounded by a desert," Milah took a sip from the wineskin and pointed at the endless mountains of sand far away.

"What _happened_ here?" Ariel couldn't help to ask and gestured around. She observed as Jones gave orders to the sailors inside the column from outside.

"Once a great evil wizard destroyed this land," Milah explained, Jones glanced at her and scoffed, she ignored and continued. "A long time ago, there was a battle between this wizard and a genie. Good _lost_ here."

"In short words, love," Jones spoke up and the two women looked at him. "Two lads came here, exchanged a few sparkly spells and blew up everything."

"The evil wizard wanted to become sultan," Milah explained further when Ariel looked again at her. "He wanted the magical lamp's genie to grant him such wish. But the lamp was found by someone else, someone good of heart, a homeless young man who had fallen in love with the sultan's daughter, Princess Jasmine."

"The genie transformed him into a rich man from a far away land, so she would marry him," she continued, as the mermaid grew engrossed. "Things turned out bad when the evil wizard found out about that and stole the lamp. There was a battle between the wizard and the genie, whom had grown fond of the young man. Agrabah sunk into its own sand and everything was destroyed."

Ariel looked around the ruins of Agrabah and wondered in her own imagination how could've been such battle. If she hadn't met with the Dark One and granted a deal with him, she probably wouldn't believe Milah's words. But she knew better.

"Magic always comes with a price," she said lowly to herself, but Milah heard it and nodded. This was a saying known to every creature alive.

"Make way!" a voice called from inside the column and everyone's attention went to it.

Jones and the others stepped away from the window and everyone jumped at their feet when a white marbled chest flew from inside the column and dropped on the ground outside in front of them. Ariel stood up when the chest dropped open right in front of where she was sitting. She approached it carefully and the others maintained their distance. She saw a red velvet veil covering the contents inside the chest and stepped even closer. Jones had his attention drawn from the mermaid to the sound of what seemed like the '_whoosh_' of a sand storm… Coming from the chest. First lowly, then louder at Ariel's each step.

"Ariel, no!" Jones said suddenly and grabbed the mermaid by the arm, pulling her away from the chest. The sound stopped at once, he glanced at the others who nodded; they heard it as well.

"Did you hear that?" he asked Ariel startled in front of him. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head.

"Heard what? I heard nothing," she looked from Jones to Milah, who signed for her to stay away from the chest.

"Stay here," Jones looked down at her intently before letting go of her arm.

"You," he pointed at one of the green sailors who had stepped out of the column. "Open it."

Milah took Ariel's arm and stepped away from the chest along with Jones, Jack, Hugo and the others. The unfortunate sailor Jones picked looked scared to death, but couldn't make up what would be worse: not follow an order or be cursed with God knows what from that chest. The sailor swallowed dryly and reached slowly for the velvet.

Ariel took a moment to understand what was happening. When the sailor approached the chest and reached for the red velvet she heard it… The _woosh_ of a sand storm. She looked around and everything seemed like before; there was no moving sand around them. The sand mountains surrounding the city far away from where they stood seemed as peaceful as before. She then met Jones' questionable eyes and nodded to let him know she heard it now, he nodded back and looked again at the sailor.

The sailor took a long deep breath and reached for the velvet at once, pulling it with his hand. Immediately a whirl of sand surrounded him, all the others stepped away in horror as they watched the sand get into his skin like acid and his scream filled their ears and the quiet of the deserted city in horror.

"Oh well, that's unfortunate," Jones said carelessly when the man's scream ceased and his skeleton dropped in front of the chest, corroded by the acid sand.

Milah was in shock, her green eyes wide open and a hand to her mouth, Ariel had her look narrowed in disgust, while Jones, Jack and Hugo didn't seem the slightly distraught by what they saw, the other green sailors, however, looked the most frightened.

"You're next, lad," Jack pushed another sailor in front of him. The man shook in fear from head to toe and approached the chest slowly.

"We don't have all day," Jones sighed impatiently and observed as the man stopped in front of the chest with his mouth wide open.

"So much gold, captain!" He exclaimed and kneeled on the ground, ignoring completely the skeleton of his friend beside him. He took a gold goblet with carved emeralds and rose for the others to see.

"Good lad," Jones approached hesitantly, but eased out when he looked down at the chest. He tapped his sailor in the shoulder. "You can keep this one," he glanced at the goblet at the man's hand.

"I don't see any lamp," Hugo said as he kneeled in front of the chest, along with Jack and Jones and started to search among the gold coins and precious stones.

"Jones," Milah called from behind the men, she and Ariel stood behind along with the others.

The captain looked at her and she pointed at the lid on the inside, it was covered in red velvet with the golden embroidered of a lamp. The velvet seemed to be falling from the lid, as if someone had already ripped it open. No longer cautious or just too excited, Jones took a dagger from his boot and ripped the velvet; from the lid a small wooden ring box fell on his lap. He took it carefully and opened it, mentally thanking no acid storm attacked him. The box was empty, but there was a carving on the lid.

"_He who holds the diamond ring will find the path to the lamp_," Jones read it out loud and stood up with the others.

"It's empty!" Hugo protested. "What kind of bullshit is this…?"

"It's a hint, the lamp was never here," the pirate captain said calmly. "We have to find this diamond first."

Ariel started hearing the sand storm sound again. She looked around and no one seemed to be doing anything unusual, she met Milah's eyes, who seemed unaware of the sound.

"Jones," Ariel took the captain's arm, still looking around.

"Hold that thought, love," he glanced distracted at her, and then back at his quartermaster.

"Someone obviously found it first," Jack said, pointing at the decomposed body from Quutamo they found.

Then Ariel saw it; the mountains far away seemed to be moving slowly, the sand started taking shape in the sky. Milah followed Ariel's wide eyes and grabbed Jack by the arm.

"Jack, the sand…" she said almost breathless, pointing at the mountains. Jack followed her finger along with the others.

"It's moving," Jack breathed out and exchanged a concerned look with the captain.

"Lads, take the chest," Jones ordered quickly to the green sailors who folioed the orders even quicker. "Everyone, RUN. Fall back to the boat, NOW!"

As they ran back in the tiny streets of Agrabah, the sound of the sand storm became louder and the sun started to fade away in the horizon, covered by the storm. The heat started to cease with the strong wind of the sand behind them, chasing the pirates like a whirling whip as they ran fast to the beach. They all could hear when two of the green sailors fell behind and shrieked in fear, as their bodies corroded with the acid storm just like their friend who opened the treasure.

The two sailors who waited by the boats took their positions fast when they saw the group running towards them. Jones and Hugo were the first ones to step aboard the first boat, followed closely by Jack, Milah and Ariel, two green sailors and the chest went aboard with them and they started roaming away. The remaining green sailors jumped in the second boat and followed after. As the sand reached the water in the beach, it started to fall down and take shapes of mountains again. The group watched everything in awe.

"What in the seven hells was that?!" Hugo exclaimed when they already had some distance from the beach.

"A protection spell," Jones explained as he opened the chest in front of him. The other green sailors kept roaming towards the Jolly Roger.

"It started after you read that thing," Jack said, pointing at the ring box in the chest.

"Now you believe the curse, I assume?" Milah said sarcastically, still catching her breath. Ariel startled by her side.

"_Now_, I do," Jones winked at her and smiled, although visibly distressed and still catching his breath, he didn't seem much concerned. "Well, lads, we will visit King Richard and get that ring, then. I'm sure Prince Eric misses us dearly."

Ariel unwillingly wide opened her eyes at the prince's name. She _knew_ she had heard of Quutamo before. Of course! Prince Eric was from Quutamo, and she had been to Quutamo! She felt her heart slamming fast at her chest again, and it wasn't because she had been attacked by acid sand. Jones glanced quickly at her, but had his attention drawn to his quartermaster when the man scoffed.

"_We_ are going to Quutamo?" Jack asked indignantly.

"I miss King Richard," Jones smiled and ignored his friend's tone. "And I lost my sword because of his son's temper tantrum," he pointed out remembering the night he met Ariel, he then shot another glance at the red head, who seemed way too uncomfortable with the conversation, avoiding to look at anyone.

"And I promised King Midas his lamp," Jones continued, looking back at the others. "If I don't deliver it, I will at least have this ring for him," he added and ignored the indignant eyes of his quarter and sailing master.

"Besides, this is getting interesting," he glanced again at Ariel, who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts, staring at the water.

"We can't sail to Quutamo," Hugo pointed out as the boats stopped beside the Jolly Roger; the sailing master took the ropy ladder with his hand.

"Eric will fire from miles away," Hugo continued and helped Milah up the ladder.

"Guess we'll go by land then," Jones stood up as well, helping Hugo to keep the boat steady and holding at the ladder.

"I need to get me another fine royal sword," he smiled at Jack and Hugo, who shook their heads, but with a smile on their faces, meaning they had bought the idea. He then stood his hand to Ariel.

"Come on, love," he called out when the red head didn't respond to his gesture, with her eyes frozen in the water. She glanced at him and took his hand, trying to look casual and avoiding his eyes.

"Up you go," he said with a smile, locking his eyes on her figure, noticing how she avoided to look him in the eye, as if he could read her uneasy mind.

Jones knew soon or later he would find out the relation between the mermaid and that fateful night he met her, he had a feeling he was getting closer in figuring it out. Going to Agrabah turned out to be more interesting and lucrative than he thought.


	7. Chapter VI

_A/N: This chapter was supposed to be part of the last one, but I thought it would be too much on one chapter alone, so I decided to break it into two. ;) And since I didn't update last week, here's a new one! Please, review review review! Thanks for reading and enjoy!_

* * *

**VI**

Ariel went straight to the cabin as soon as she stepped aboard the Jolly Roger. She closed the door behind her and stood there, her back to the carved wood. She didn't realize how shaky she was until she found herself alone in the room. She lifted a hand in front of her eyes noticed as it shook uncontrollably.

"Damn it," she whispered to herself, holding her hands in front of her body and taking deep breaths.

Of course the experience in Agrabah was, at the very least, _interesting_ for her. But that wasn't why she felt her heart slamming in her chest or why her hands shook so much. The name _Eric_ provoked that sensation in her. She hadn't really thought about it, and it surprised her how uneasy she reacted to the idea of him. It was as if only then she remembered what he did, or _tried_ to do, with her. And more important than that: he probably still wanted her to account for her actions.

Should she tell Jones about it? Would he hand her to Eric? Or worse, would he consider her a liability and tell her to leave? No matter how nice Jones had been with her, treating her as one of his own, he still had her under his watch. As if he was always testing her, waiting for her to do something, watching her every step. And Ariel, of course, was smarter than to trust a pirate. She wasn't human, but she knew men of the sea like no one else, and years of listening and watching royal, pirates or really any kind of sailor made her very aware of how they were. Pirates were treacherous men who lived for their own interest and nothing else. If Jones considered in his interest to hand her to Eric, she would have a problem. But Jones wouldn't do that, would he?

"Ariel?" Milah's voice came from the other side of the door after a knock. Ariel jumped on her feet.

"Are you feeling alright, love?" Milah continued due to the mermaid's silence.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you," Ariel managed to sound calm. "I need some rest only."

"Alright," Milah voice was doubtful, but she decided to leave it at that. "I'm in my cabin if you need me."

"Thanks," Ariel breathed out, relieved when she heard Milah's stepping away from the door.

It was somewhat long since Ariel was bothered again. The sea made the Jolly Roger's way back to Phrygia a very bumpy ride, but Ariel was used to the way the ship moved. The rough bumps had stopped by then, and the ship rocked slowly. She sat over a dresser pinned to the wooden floor, hugging her legs and resting her chin over her knees. She liked sitting there; it wasn't very comfortable, but she could see the horizon and the seawater splashing against the ship as it sailed by the tiny round windows of the cabin.

Ariel never thought she would miss the sea. Of course, she was always close to the sea, one way or another, but she missed _swimming_ in it, freely and carelessly. Maybe this was what Jones talked about when he said he couldn't understand why she'd want to be human? She liked being human now. Her first experiences weren't the greatest, but ever since she'd been aboard the Jolly Roger, she didn't regret her decision. But, at the same time, for the first time, that night as they sailed towards Phrygia, Ariel missed being a mermaid.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," a voice called for Ariel's attention.

She glanced at the door, slowly, when she recognized the voice. There stood Jones, lying carelessly on his side on the doorframe, his arms folded in front of his body. He had been observing Ariel for a few minutes already, she obviously didn't notice him before and wouldn't have if he hadn't spoke. The way she looked at him clearly showed she was a lot more at ease then when they boarded.

"No, you're not," Ariel said lowly and glanced away from him, back to the waters outside. The full moon illuminated the ship's path vividly, suggesting it was way past midnight.

"My men tell me you took a bath and stayed here since we left Agrabah's waters," he said cautiously as he approached the girl. She didn't glance back at him until he stopped beside her and looked outside.

"You are awfully uneasy since we left," he said, looking through the window, but he knew the mermaid looked at him.

"Too much to process. The sand, the curse…" she lied. He glanced at her and their eyes met. With her sitting on the dresser, she could look at him eye to eye, without having to look up. He took full advantage of that and locked his eyes on hers.

"Really?" his tone was as sarcastic as his expression. He raised an eyebrow and let out a smile.

"If you have something to say, just say it," the words were out of her mouth before she could process them properly. The smile vanished from the pirate's face, and she tensed up, but her face remained expressionless.

"_Fierce_, are we?" his tone was less sarcastic, but still ironic. "Too much time spent in Milah's company, I'd wager."

"I'm not in the mood for games," she ignored his last comment and looked out the window again.

The pirate captain was impressed by her words, but no less indignant as he would be if they were spoken by anyone else. He turned his body to her and folded his arms in front of his chest. With his movements, Ariel looked back at him. She rose her head and chin sitting up straight, but with her knees still bent under her light dress, her barefoot on the edge of the dresser. She knew at once when looking into his eyes that she _definitely_ used the wrong words.

"Not in the mood?" Jones said as calmly as before, but his eyes transmitted all he didn't in tone. He was _pissed_. "So you disrespect me, _in my ship_."

"I'm not disrespecting you," Ariel didn't look away from his eyes, as much as she wanted to. She wasn't very sure of what could happen next. If she ever thought of telling Jones about Eric, after the way she just talked to him, he might make her walk the plank that very night.

"You are playing me with words," she continued, defensively, and Jones tilted his head to the side, his eyes never leaving hers. "You always do. I have a right to be fierce about it."

No one ever talked to Killian Jones that way. He wasn't sure if he was amused, pissed or just really impressed at the girl. Maybe she didn't realize whom she was talking with. Maybe she didn't know that speaking like that to a pirate captain could cost her life. But he would be naive to think that; Ariel had been aboard the Jolly Roger for almost a month, she had seen the way the men treated him, she had seen him order his men to sure death that very afternoon simply because it was fitting to. She knew better. And he knew she did. And this wasn't Milah as well, Milah was sure a strong-minded lass, but she'd sure as hell teach Ariel where the limit was, by - for starters - never crossing it herself. This was Ariel all along. Ariel wasn't afraid. Ariel wasn't… _Anything_.

And Ariel hid _something_. And he would find out what she was hiding. Dealing with the mermaid's sharp tongue and figuring out how he felt about it had to wait.

"Oh well, it's only fair for me to treat you that way, love," he tried to ease the expression in his eyes and let out a smile. Ariel frowned at that. "You," he pointed at her. "Are doing the same."

"I'm not playing you!" she said defensively, her look still narrowed, and left the dresser, standing on her feet in front of him.

"Oh, is that so?" he stepped closer and looked down at her, his arms were folded in front of his chest, but he almost pinned her to the dresser all the same.

It all seemed to her very much like the night she met Eric, but despite the pirate in front of her looking more terrifying with his expressive eyes than the drunken prince, and her life depending much more on his actions, she did not fear him as much as feared Eric. She didn't fear Jones at all. These confusing thoughts made her freeze in front of him.

"Do you care to tell me why did these big blue eyes of yours get so wide when you hear Prince Eric's name?" she wide opened her eyes just the way he said she did. He kept looking down at her, his tone as calm as before, his own eyes not as piercing as before, but still inquisitive.

"Or, more specifically," Jones continued due to her stunned silence. "When I mentioned it was because of him that I lost my sword, which happened to be in the same night you so heroically rescued me?"

Ariel felt her heart slamming on her chest all over again. She stared at Jones' eyes for what seemed like hours, but were really just a few seconds. She swallowed dryly and broke eye contact with him, looking down.

"I don't know what you're speaking of," she said lower and la ot less daring than before. Her defenses shattered so easily by the captain that she felt almost angry about it.

"Sure you don't," he scoffed and took the girl's chin, still gently, with his hand. He made her look up to him. This time the shiver she felt was a lot different than the ones before.

"You do realize that if you are hiding something from me that involves Quutamo, I _will_ find out, don't you?" he continued lowly, she stared back at him, swallowing dryly once again. "And if this, in any way, can be used against me or my crew I will not be happy about it."

Ariel simply did not know what to say. She took her chin away from his hand by simply turning her head to the side. She stared at the round small windows, from where she was standing now all she could see was the moon outside. She breathed deeply and sensed the pirate loosing his patience with her silence.

"I'm giving you a chance to explain yourself, Ariel," he said, looking down at her, he rested a hand on the dressed behind her, his arm blocking her view of the window, she looked back at him.

"I know you hide something," he said even lower and glanced at the opened door. It was late, no one would walk on the corridor now, but he just wanted to make sure.

"I have been to Quutamo before," Ariel said at once and his eyes went right back to hers.

"When you were a mermaid," he nodded, following her thought. She shook her head.

"No," Ariel whispered and glanced at the door, also making sure no one would hear them.

"No?"

"The night I…" she trailed off and looked down, she took the trail of her dress with her right hand. "The legs…"

"Yes," Jones nodded, understanding at once what she meant. Even though she wasn't looking at him, he could see her eyes glooming with tears at the mention of the fateful night she made a deal. He had seen in the cave, and he saw it again now.

"A ship from Quutamo's fleet was being ambushed by my sisters," she looked back at him, as if by a spell, her tears had vanished. "After the deal and the Dark One, he— they…" but she trailed off again.

"Yes," he encouraged her to continue again.

"The ship went back to Quutamo, confused, when the singing broke off," she explained. She felt the words catching up in her throat every time, but if she didn't open up now, Killian would never forgive her.

"I followed them," she said even lower than before. Jones frowned at that, she observed his reaction carefully.

"Why?" he contained himself before assuming anything.

"I had seen him—_them_ before," she corrected herself quickly. "I liked to watch them."

"Him?" Jones asked. She obviously wasn't quick enough. "Who's him?"

"Eric," she looked down as soon as she pronounced the name and missed the change in Jones' expression.

He went from curious to furious in the flick of an eye, his eyes as piercing as when she talked back to him. He took her by the chin with his free hand again, this time not so gentle and made her look at him.

"Do you _work_ for Eric? Did he _send_ you?" he tried not to raise his voice, but that proved to be difficult. Thankfully enough it was too late and his men too drunk in the night to hear him.

"No!" Ariel's tone was so indignant that he let go of her chin at once. He didn't hurt her, but she was appalled either way. By his question and _not_ his gesture.

"I would never!" she continued, lowering her voice, but no less angry. Her guard went all up again, she stared at him defiantly, and he took his hand from the dresser as she locked her eyes on his.

"You offend me!" she continued and he was so impressed he didn't cut her this time. "I would never harm you— your ship, your crew. _Ever_!"

"And why not?" were his only words to her defensive response. His look wasn't furious anymore, but he still needed to hear more from her to ease up.

"You are nice to me," her expression eased up as she spoke, but her eyes still locked on his. "You don't treat me differently. Your crew… Milah, Jack… you… Even the ones that still don't like me and shoot me looks…"

This took the pirate by surprise; he even took a small step back. He observed as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if all of that was really difficult for her to say. What surprised him the most was, despite all odds, his gut believe every word she said.

"Then why are you scared of going back to Quutamo?" Jones asked carefully. Despite believing her, he still had to find out why she was so uneasy about Quutamo and Eric.

"The night I followed Eric's ship," she opened her eyes as she started to speak, and looked up at him, her expression a lot more relaxed. " It was my first time with legs, I had no idea how to act, what to do and how men can be. I went on land, a man grabbed me, Eric saved me, and he invited me to their welcome home party in a tavern. I went and I was fascinated. But then Eric, he…"

"What happened, Ariel?" Jones frowned when she trailed off again and looked away from him. From the sound of this and by the things he knew of Eric, he knew exactly where this was going.

"He tried to…" she gestured with her hands, uneasy, and didn't look in his eyes. "He tried to kiss me—"

"By force," he completed her sentence and she looked up at him surprised, her eyebrows up. "He's known for being a _charming_ lad," he said sarcastically, but quickly grew serious again. "Did he? Or _anything_ else?"

"No," she shook her head and he was the one surprised again. "I could poison him," she shrugged. "But I wasn't really afraid of that, I was afraid of _him_. I ran away."

Jones opened his mouth to speak, but organized his thoughts first and said nothing. He wanted to laugh as he imagined Eric's face, but this obviously wasn't as funny for her. It was probably the worst first experience she could have had as a human. And suddenly everything became crystal clear in his mind; the memory of Hugo reading the raven from Quutamo came to his mind at once.

"Wait, _you're_ the girl," he said, half amused half impressed. Ariel frowned.

"What girl?"

"We received a raven from a friend in Quutamo," Jones explained, a smile crossed his face. "He said Eric was furious some girl refused him. Had to be you."

"He sent men after me," Ariel explained, unsure of what to make of the captain's sudden smile. "I was so scared I swam away."

"… And he never found you," Jones completed and scoffed, shaking his head.

"I'm telling the truth, Jones," she grabbed him by the arm and searched for his eyes with her own. "I swear."

"I know you are, love," he looked down at her and calmed the girl down. Obviously the fact he was smiling at the situation made her unsure of him. He tried his best to remain serious.

"He knows me, he must be after me," she continued, when he looked at her eyes again. "This could bring danger to your mission, to your crew, to you. I can stay in Phrygia with the ship, I can help the ones who will stay to look after it."

"Oh, no, no, no, no," Jones shook his head, the smirk came back to his lips, he stepped closer to her, their bodies an inch apart and he looked down. "You are coming with us, sweetheart."

"But…" Ariel trailed off. Would he sell her to Eric? She couldn't believe it! After all she had told him? But she couldn't move or resuming speaking as well. Her body shivered the way it did many times before with his closeness. She looked in his eyes, puzzled. Not afraid.

"Could be dangerous, but I never turned from a challenge," he said with that smirk of his. Ariel opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her. "I want to see the look on that prick's face when he sees you," he gestured with his head down to her, "With _us_."

Ariel scoffed and looked away, stepping back. Killian Jones almost killed her with a heart attack, but he wouldn't sell her. And by the look on his face, he wouldn't kill or banish her from the Jolly Roger either. She still had a lot to learn to be able to figure out his actions and looks. But she managed a smile, relieved at once.

**x**

It was the third night on board back to Phrygia. Ariel stood by the bow, supporting her weight against the rail on port side, she looked at the horizon and could see Phrygia already, very tiny and miles and miles away. It was a chilly night, much different than when they left Agrabah and she wore her coat over her dress.

The sea was so calm and still that if she looked at the water, she could see a perfect reflex of the starry sky above her, dark and mysterious. The moon up high illuminated the Roger's path just like the night she talked to Jones.

A night that Ariel still tried to process in her mind. Everything turned out way better than she expected and, again, the pirate captain surprised her. She really thought he would either sell her to Eric or banish her from the Roger, by walking the plank right there and then or leaving her in Phrygia. It scared her to realize that she was much more afraid of being _banished_ than be _sold_ to Eric.

And Eric. Eric and Jones. Something obviously had happened between the two of them. Jones knew Eric and he seemed to really loathe the prince. There should be a reason why, but she did not find enough courage to ask the captain. After their talk, he told her he'd share her story with Jack, but assured her he would leave out the part of how and why she got to Quutamo and after he left that night, she really hadn't had the chance to speak with him any way.

Despite what anyone would think, Jones was always busy on board. Most times confined in Jack's cabin in meetings with the quartermaster, a thing Milah hated because she often needed to be elsewhere when it happened, or he would spend his time below decks with most of the green sailors. Milah explained to Ariel whoever didn't wear a bandana or a hat on board was sure to be a prospect sailor and not yet a part of the crew. Ariel remembered Jones only took prospects to look for the treasure of Agrabah and wondered if the captain really doubted there was a curse or not. He sure didn't mind the three lives he lost there, as if he carefully chose them.

Ariel could hear the clinking of swords below decks, the few laughs and yells, and deduced Jones was probably fighting with someone there. Another thing that the captain loved to do; she woke up more than once with the sounds of laughter and yells from below decks, but since she'd never dare to step there, Milah explained to her the sailors often trained their sword form there. Sometimes it would turn bloody and Ariel would see sailors who looked perfectly fine the day before walking the deck with a missing limb, battered or still even bleeding. They didn't seem to mind.

"You are up early, sweetheart," a frail voice came from behind Ariel. She looked at its source and met Dope Eye walking towards her.

Dope Eye was a man of over seventy years old, the oldest aboard. Every inch of his wrinkled body was tattooed, except for his face. Despite his fierce appearance, the old man had a warm, almost completely toothless, smile. He always wore a red bandana and a black pirate hat with a fancy, but already ragged and old, feather on the side. He walked with the help of a wooden stick and missed three fingers on his right hand. His remaining ones, however, were filled with rings. He walked a little arched and Ariel admired how balanced he was even when there was a storm, as if he was pinned to the ship.

"Or did you never sleep?" he stopped beside her and sat on the small step to the forecastle platform, right in front of her. Ariel smiled at him.

"Woke up early," she replied with a smile, looking down at him.

"Ah, so young to have such a light sleep" his voice was always the same calm and low. "Some warm tea would warm your belly and put you to sleep. I just had some. There's some left if you'd like."

"No, thank you, Dopey," she smiled again and looked away from him for a moment, creating some internal courage to speak.

"You have been here for a long time, haven't you?" she asked lowly, unsure if she was even allowed to speak of it.

"Oh, it's showing now, eh?" Dope Eye joked. Ariel chuckled shyly. "What do you want to know, sweetheart?"

"Well," Ariel sat beside him, putting both of her hands over her knees and spoke lowly. "What is it with Eric and the Captain?"

If there was someone who, probably, wouldn't be offended of her asking questions she shouldn't be asking, this person would definitely by Dope Eye. He analyzed the girl for a second, his tiny grey eyes locked on hers.

"Killian is not the only that has a problem with Eric, my love," he said with a half smile. Ariel noted only now that he was the only one who called and spoke of Jones by his first name.

"Did he ever tell you how he got the Roger?"

Ariel remembered her first day on board, when Jones took her to the cabin and the ship as a whole fascinated her. She remembered him telling her he inherited the ship from its former captain, who stole it from King Richard's father, King William.

"He told me the former captain stole it from King Richard's father," Ariel shrugged when the elder smiled. "And that he inherited from him."

"Not true," Dope Eye said and smiled when Ariel scoffed. "He was probably testing you, to know if you'd react to the lie. How Killian got his hands on the Roger is a vey known tale in Quutamo and among most men of the sea."

"I'm not from Quutamo," Ariel shrugged and looked down, shyly.

"Nor a man of the sea," Dope Eye joked again, Ariel smiled and looked at him. "Killian is very defensive of his ship, do not take it personally. He didn't trust you then."

"I don't think he does now either," Ariel confessed and Dope Eye chuckled lowly, shaking his head.

"Ah, he does, love," he said and Ariel tilted her head to the side, confused. "You'd be dead by now if he didn't."

"Why didn't he tell me the truth about the Roger, then?" Ariel enquired, but her tone was playful. Dope Eye looked away from her, thoughtfully.

"Because he never tells it, to anyone."

"Milah told me you are great at storytelling because you know how to build up the suspense," Ariel said with a smile, the elder looked at her and smiled back. "You will tell me the real story, won't you?"

"To tell you how Killian got the Roger and why he hates King Richard and Prince Eric, I need to start way before," Dope Eye said and noted the girl's eyes shining with interest. "It's a long tale."

"I've lost my sleep," Ariel said with a smile. Dope Eye nodded in a 'very well' manner and sat more comfortably, resting his back against the rail.

"Killian and Jack were both survivors of a sinking ship," he started. Ariel grew interested by every word, listening attentively. "Poor boys didn't remember much about home, only it was a place called Gillian that had been plundered in the Ogre War, hence why a ship sailed from it with its few survivors."

"They were rescued on a deserted island by a royal Quutamo ship. It was a cabin boy that saw them, the King's son, Prince Eric, who was only 10 back then," he continued and noted Ariel's interest growing at the sound of the prince's name. "The men didn't pay much attention to the boys, but Eric insisted to bring them aboard. The prince was already known for being stubborn and spoiled, so fearing his father, the men rescued Killian, who was also 10 at the time, and Jack, who was 17."

Ariel tried to picture Jones as a child, but the image just never right in her mind. She nodded for Dope Eye to continue.

"The boys were brought before King Richard, who didn't pay them much mind and were also forgotten by Eric, once the boy was on land and among his own little royal friends."

Ariel didn't have much difficulty in picturing Eric forgetting the boys, however.

"Some men who worked on port took some pity on the boys without family and put them up to work in Quutamo's main port in exchange for food and shelter," he continued. "The boys made some unusual friends working there and with their frequent visits to the taverns around. One special man took notice of their fierce knowledge of routes, sailing and most importantly: merchant ships. This man was Captain Flint, of the infamous pirate ship The Walrus, that is when I met Jones and Jack, I served on the Walrus."

Ariel's eyes lighted up. She had heard men speaking of the Walrus; everyone talked about the Walrus and its infamous captain. She heard sailors telling tales of Flint's famous ambushes and, impressively enough, plunders and blood that came with it. She couldn't imagine frail and warm Dope Eye being part of that.

"Killian, the quick of thought lad he is, made a deal with Flint," Dope Eye continued after noting by the young woman's eyes that she _had_ heard of the Walrus. "He granted The Walrus safe passage in Quutamo as well as information about the cargo and routes of merchants ships that crossed Quutamo's waters. He was only thirteen when he started, Jack was twenty, but Killian was always the brains and Jack his conscience."

"When Killian turned twenty himself, Flint offered him and Jack positions aboard The Walrus. These two were bright from a very young age," he commented with a smile on his face. "Back then, Flint had been having problems with his quartermaster for some time, John Long Silver. Silver wasn't as cold and heartless as Flint and often protested the captain's plundering actions."

"Flint had become a mentor to both Killian and Jack even before they became part of the crew," Dope Eye continued and Ariel nodded, completely absorbed by the tale. "Silver eventually left his service aboard the Walrus. And it wasn't until years later when he returned aboard the Jolly Roger, a Captain of the Quutamo fleet to destroy The Walrus, that we saw him again."

"Silver joined the Quutamo's royal navy?" Ariel asked with her eyes wide, in shock.

"Oh, by then Quutamo's economy was at stake, they needed all the help they could get," Dope Eye said, supporting both of his hands on his walking stick between his legs. "Because of its severe winter, most of their food and supplies are bought from other lands. Killian and Jack knew every route and every schedule, and when they left Quutamo to serve aboard the Walrus, their friend Hugo kept giving them the information they needed to ambush the ships with no problems whatsoever."

Now Ariel understood better why Hugo and Jack were the only ones to protest over the captain's actions and commands. They were friends from _way_ before.

"The way they did it didn't please Silver, so he left and enlisted in Quutamo's royal navy," Dope Eye continued. "Killian was 24 when Silver left and he was made the Walrus' quartermaster. Some may say Silver was jealous of both of the boys' abilities and Flint's fatherly affection towards them, but why Silver decided to betray Flint is a delicate subject neither Killian nor Jack ever speak of and I wouldn't be able to tell you either, for I'm afraid I don't know why."

Ariel noted sadness in Dope Eye's grey eyes when he spoke of Silver. The elder took a moment and looked away from the girl. Unsure of what to do, Ariel put a hand over the man's wrinkled ones and smiled when he looked back at her.

"So the Jolly Roger was originally Silver's?" she hesitantly tried to pull him back to the story.

"No, it was Prince Eric's, as is every ship in Quutamo to this date," he smiled at the girl's touch and continued. "The young prince has a skill for sailing, there is no denying it. He's Quutamo's Royal Navy Admiral."

Everything started to slowly make sense in Ariel's mind. Why Jones had a rivalry with Eric, why it was a ship from Eric's fleet that attacked the Roger the night she saved him…

"Eric was decided to make his father proud, so he set sail aboard the Jolly Roger, his fastest ship, captained by Silver, and went on a hunt on The Walrus," Dope Eye continued. "It was a bloody unfair battle when the Jolly Roger and two others of Eric's fleet ships surrounded and took the Walrus on open sea. Eric slit Flint's throat himself, in front of Killian."

Ariel wide opened her eyes, startled at the revelation. Now she also understood why Jones didn't tell her the truth. She wouldn't either if she were him. She'd never imagine Jones ever went through such a traumatizing event in his life. Not by his smirks and his defensiveness and guard, which also made complete sense now.

"Before the Walrus succumbed, we took down two of Eric's ships," Dope Eye noted again all of her reactions. "The men aboard the Walrus were vicious and bloodthirsty, but we could not bring the Jolly Roger down, and we couldn't really, for The Walrus was already on the bottom of the sea with the other two. But Killian did take the Roger and killed Silver with his own hands, on this very deck."

He glanced at the bow and Ariel followed his eyes, imagining the scene there years ago. _This_ was something she could clearly picture Jones doing.

"To this day, love," Dope Eye said and his eyes met Ariel's again. "I have never seen Killian as angry and vengeful as I did that day. And against all odds, he took the Jolly Roger, with less than twenty men. All dead today, with the exception of Killian himself, Jack and yours truly."

"And Eric?" Ariel asked. Something seemed off, Eric was alive. Ariel couldn't understand why Jones would spare the life of the man who murdered his mentor.

"Now, Killian is very much heartless and even cold blooded, I'm sure you've noticed," Dope Eye said as if he had read her thoughts. "But, he has this personal code Flint taught him in his mind and he could not bring himself to kill Eric, for it was the prince who saved him and Jack from that island years ago. So he brings Eric hostage, close enough to Quutamo and releases him on a boat."

"A decision I'm sure he regrets to this day," Ariel shrugged, remembering the rage in Jones' eyes when she mentioned Eric.

"I am not sure he regrets it. It's very hard to make out what Jones feels about anything," the elder shrugged and smiled when Ariel nodded at his last comment. "But one thing is known, he loathes Eric for killing Flint. The battle of the Walrus happened a good six or seven years ago, they have settled but the hate remains."

"He told me a much shorter, slightly different version of this story," Ariel didn't blame him now. "I never thought there was so much history to the Jolly Roger. Or Jones."

"Oh, there's much more," Dope Eye said with a warm laugh. "Killian is feared by every sailing men out there because of the Roger and what he made of it."

"Well, he _is_ a bit heartless," Ariel stated lowly, more to herself than the elder in front of her.

"Only to those who stand between him and his goals," Dope Eye said and took Ariel's hand with both of his. "The men on this ship, the ones who have been here long enough, these men would die willingly for him and for Jack. Every pirate is a bit misunderstood, sweetheart."

"_You_ aren't heartless," Ariel smiled when he squeezed her hand gently. He let out another warm laugh.

"I'm more experienced at hiding it, love," he said. Ariel couldn't picture Dope Eye heartless, but by the stories she heard of The Walrus, he couldn't be anything much different from it.

"Does he scare you, love?" he asked, suddenly. Ariel frowned.

"Who? Jones?" she asked, her eyebrows up. He nodded. "No… I don't think so."

Ariel hadn't thought about it either. Surely Jones made her at times apprehensive, specially the night they talked about Eric. But scared? She was surprised to discover she wasn't. Not even a little. When clearly she should be, after all she saw and heard.

"He would _never_ hurt you, love," he assured, fiercely with his eyes locked on hers.

"Wouldn't he?" she raised only an eyebrow this time, suspiciously. "How do you know, Dopey?"

"Oh, let us say I have a sense for these things," he smiled and winked at her, standing up slowly. She stood up at once and helped him. "Too many years on these waters with nothing to think about except what others have on their minds, makes you an expert on these things."

"Alas, the tea has helped me and my eyes feel tired," he held Ariel's hand when the girl stood with him, her other hand on his back. He looked her in the eye again. "Go back to sleep, child, there's still a full day of sailing."

Ariel observed the elder slowly making his way to the passage below deck and rested her weight on the rail again, left alone with her own now _much different_ impressions of Killian Jones and his actions and ways.


	8. Chapter VII

**VII**

Jones flipped deftly the sharp pocketknife between his fingers, the knife danced in waves from one finger to the other. He waited patiently and the loud muffled sound of folk music didn't seem to bother him one bit. Sitting across from him was Hugo, who couldn't help himself and was already on his third tall glass of ale, by his side Jack sat carelessly throwing the old darts at the wooden wall.

The three pirates were on the top floor of The Golden Hand, the famous port tavern in Phrygia; the same tavern Ariel stole the map from Captain Herald. Jones was well known by its owner Lady Allyn, a round fat lady on her late forties who always welcomed him and his crew with the best of her smiles. She willingly let them _'have their business'_ in her personal office on the top floor. The place was a mess, but the small table and chairs would do. Jones wasn't preoccupied with luxury.

The door finally opened and through it came a handsome young man. His dirty blond hair fell carelessly over his shoulder and his wide jaw bore a white smile and a scruffy light beard. Despite dressed in a much better manner than most men in that tavern, his attire matched Jones, only the blond preferred lighter colors. The right side of his sheath carried a beautiful round sword.

"Ah, good to see you, Le Grand," Jones stood up and gave the man a hug.

"You will like it better when I give you the good news," Le Grand said with his thick French accent.

Adrian Le Grand was famous in most of the kingdoms he has ever set foot, which were almost all of them. He was a nomad mercenary and went where his gold took him. He was known for his stealth and creative ways of getting his job done, and despite what his job title would entail, Jones - who had known him for a long time - knew that for Adrian to actually kill someone, he really would have to have no other choice. He was known for talking his victims out and persuading them in disappearing in the world.

"I hear you're looking for a way to have some leverage on our dear King Richard, huh?" Adrian said after greeting Hugo and Jack and taking his place on a chair beside the black sailing master.

"Tell me you have something good enough," Jones breathed out, almost relieved that his sailor did reach Adrian and did brief him and he wouldn't have to spend more time telling him why he wanted his services.

"You can't even imagine," Adrian smile grew even wider, he took a parchment from an inside pocket in his coat and opened in over the table to reveal a very detailed map of Quutamo and its surroundings. "Prince Eric's betrothed is coming from a village in north of Quutamo, the daughter of the Duke of Kiita."

Jones smiled mischievously when Le Grand pointed at a small state northeast of the heart of Quutamo, called Kiita. This was indeed better than he expected and imagined. He gestured for Adrian to continue.

"Her escort will be small, no more than six or seven men. They will leave Kiita sometime after midday," Adrian continued and pointed a traced road from Kiita to Quutamo's capital with his finger. "They will take this road and meet with King Richard and his son here," he pointed the middle of the road. "Then they will follow to Quutamo's capital together."

"We can ambush the escort," Jones followed Adrian's thought, who nodded in consent, pointing a road that followed all the way from a village northwest of Phrygia to the road the girl would take to meet King Richard.

"The other part of your men can take the shortest road to Quutamo," Adrian pointed a much shorter way from west of Phrygia to east of Quutamo's capital with his finger. "By my calculations, this group would arrive in Phrygia mid afternoon."

"I need to keep Richard and his forces distracted for more than that," Jones commented. He exchanged a brief look with Jack.

"I know you want some ring from Richard," Adrian commented carefully. "But if you share with me why would a second group need to be Phrygia, I could think of a better strategy to keep them away."

"Sorry, friend," Jones was the one to smile this time. "This second part most of my men don't know about. Jack will lead, it will be him and only two more."

"Fine with me," Adrian shrugged with a half smile. "I'm sure you will think of a way to keep them busy while Jack does what he has to do."

"I will," Jones nodded with a smile, but quickly changed the subject and pointed at the road where they would ambush the girl. "You will come with us, as arranged, after we are done with all this, we return to Phrygia," he glanced at Jack and nodded quietly. Jack took a velvet sack from his sheath and handed to Le Grand.

"Your down payment," Jones said as he observed Le Grand opening the sack and taking the gold coins in his hands. "We will give you the requested emeralds, rubies and diamonds once we're back."

"Always a pleasure doing business with you," Adrian took the sack to his own sheath and nodded in a bow to the pirate captain.

**x**

The folk music became louder and louder as the four men walked down the stony steps, the tavern was filled with people; most of the men were from the Jolly Roger. Some tavern wenches entertained them while they drank and gambled. Jones made his way to the serving counter and hopped on the other side to give Lady Allyn a hug.

"Thank you, as always, Allyn," he said with a charming smile, embracing the woman by her right side. She reddened at his touch.

"Everything for you, my dear boy," she placed a wet and red kiss on his cheek and he slipped an emerald stone on her hand. She looked at it and smiled brightly. He winked at her and hopped back to join his crew.

As soon as he found a seat across the table from Milah and Jack, a beautiful brunette made her way to his lap, already with a glass of wine in her hands. Milah looked from the girl on Jones' lap to Ariel dancing with one of the violin players across the room. The poor girl tried her best, but seemed to have two left feet. At least she seemed to be having a lot of fun, her laughter echoed with the others in the room no matter what.

Milah was more than amused when she saw no one other than Le Grand charmingly approaching Ariel and offering her a glass of wine, as he took her by the waist to a corner. Milah wasn't bothered at all to interrupt Jones clearly too entertained by the brunette's kisses.

"Well, look at that!" Milah said an octave higher to catch Jones' attention. Jack, who had observed his wife the entire time, stifled a laugh and shook his head.

"Look at what?" Jones parted his lips from the brunette and took a long sip of his ale. The girl kept kissing his neck, but his attention was with Milah.

"Ariel found herself a new friend," Milah said as slyly as she could and pointed with her eyes to Ariel and Le Grand talking, Jones followed her glance.

"I hear his nickname, Le Grand or The Great, isn't because of his _land_ conquering skills," Milah commented with a sarcastic smile. Jack exchanged a look with his captain before Jones shot a killing one at Milah.

"And exactly why should I care who Ariel becomes friends with?" Jones sounded as casual as before, to Milah's completely dismay. But inside, for some reason, he felt bothered by the way Ariel smiled as she talked to Le Grand.

**x**

Ariel clapped and curtsied at the violinist who had been dancing with her when the musicians finished the song and started another one right away. She was panting, grasping from air from all the dancing, and her cheeks hurt from all the laughing, but she had never had that much fun in her life. She paused to take a deep breath and was surprised by a charming and different accent as a voice spoke behind her.

"Does the lady accept some wine?" Ariel turned around, the simple dress she bought when she had been there the last time whirled as she did. She met a handsome blond man with two tall tinned glasses on his hands. She didn't know why, but she felt her cheeks burning at once when she looked up at him.

"Why, thank you," she smiled shyly and took a glass as he offered to her. The man smiled back and he gently took her by the waist, directing her away from the concentration of people dancing. She felt the same shiver she always did whenever Jones touched her.

Ariel rested her back on the wooden wall and took a sip of the wine when the man stopped in front of her. She still didn't know why her cheekbones seemed to be burning, but as she drank the wine, it seemed that she eased up by every sip.

"I'm Adrian," the man said as soon as Ariel took the first sip of her drink. He took her free hand and kissed it softly. He smiled to himself as her cheekbones reddened all over again.

"I'm Ariel," Ariel tried hard not to stutter and that made her smile like a fool, she took a long sip of her wine, hoping it would keep helping her to ease up.

"Ariel," he repeated her name as he took a sip of his drink as well, only then he let go of her hand. "You are beautiful, Ariel," he continued. Ariel swallowed dryly when he touched a lock of her hair with his hand. "You know, it's rare to find people with hair like this. From where I come from, we call these people _embrassée par le feu_, or kissed by fire."

Ariel felt her heart skip a beat when Adrian touched her cheek lightly before letting go of her hair. She found herself smiling stupidly at him again and took another sip of her drink. Although she was nervous, she was enjoying it.

"I've never seen you here before," he commented with a smile. "Are you new in Phrygia?"

"Uh, actually, I'm with them," Ariel glanced at all the men around, she quickly exchanged a look with Milah and noticed that Jones, who she remembered clearly went from the stairs to her table with Jack wasn't there anymore.

"The Jolly Roger?" he asked, impressed when she had her eyes on his again. She nodded with a smile. "With Jones?" she nodded again; he immediately took a step back. "Are you _with_ Jones?" he made sure to ask again, maybe she didn't understand what he meant.

"With Jones?" she frowned, puzzled at his reaction. Then it came to her what he meant. "Oh, no! Not _with_ him, I'm with his crew. And not in that way, too, I'm somewhat part of it."

Adrian's tension eased at once. He took the step forward again and resumed with his charming flirts. For a moment there he thought he was definitely crossing a line he'd be sorry to cross, but after the young woman explained, he couldn't help but to feel even more drawn to her. Beautiful, sweet, aboard the Jolly Roger, and not a prisoner, a companion or wife to one of them; he felt intrigued and even more charmed by the red head.

**x**

Ariel walked slowly towards the Roger. The effect of the wine was passing, but she still felt dizzy. The streets of Phrygia were silent, except for the eventual drunk talking to himself here and there. _It was late_. Ariel smiled with herself as she remembered her night with Adrian. The charming man tried several times to kiss her, but she did a good job at avoiding it. It wasn't that she didn't _want_ it; point in fact she _really_ wanted it. But Zoso's words never left her mind _'true love's kiss would never kill anyone, love'_, Ariel didn't know what true love was. But she was somewhat sure it certainly wasn't what she was feeling for Adrian.

Adrian seemed content enough with kissing her cheek, neck and hands, and Ariel was, too. She surely wanted to know what a real kiss between two humans felt like. But she was afraid to poison Adrian. She wasn't sure if she would, all her other mermaid traits weren't there when she was in human form. Her hearing and vision was like any other person, she couldn't sense things the way she did. She shouldn't poison people either, but she was afraid. So she evaded it.

Ariel heard Adrian's tales all through the night while he kissed her here and there and his fingers run softly in her skin when he spoke. He was so gentle and so charming. Ariel never met anyone like him, not even when she was a mermaid; the men she had kissed and killed, none of them were like Adrian. She smiled remembering as he offered to walk her to the Roger when she said she should go back and get some sleep. He offered discreetly for her to be with him for the rest of the night, but didn't insist when she said she probably shouldn't. Not that night, not yet. Ariel was confused of her feelings.

She knew what Adrian meant when he invited her to spend the night with him. But she wasn't sure she should do it. She didn't know _how_ to do it. She saw it in the minds of the men she lured, visions of them with other women and imagining it with her, it seemed pleasant. But Ariel had never really done it. And she wasn't sure she was ready for it, it made her nervous. What if she did something wrong?

Ariel found herself on the main deck when she decided not to think about it any further. She needed some sleep. Jack told her they would be leaving in the morning and that she needed to be ready. She took her boots off as soon as she reached the deck, so she wouldn't make any noise, and walked slowly and carefully towards her cabin. When she opened the door, however, she froze at her feet.

The moonlight illuminated the room lightly through the round small windows Ariel like so much to look at. On the bed lied Jones, his chest bare and the sheets barely covering the rest of his body, on his left side a naked brunette girl rested her hands and head on his chest, on his right side an equally naked blonde laid carelessly. Ariel stopped at the sight for a few seconds, but her immediate reaction was to shut the door back, quietly. She stood there in the tiny corridor, facing the door in silence.

As many times before, what she felt wasn't something she could explain or understand. A wave of both sadness and rage filled her heart at once. Ariel closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and almost instantly the scene she had just seen filled her mind again. She opened her eyes, angry, and marched out of there, not really careful with the noise anymore. When she found herself on the bow, grasping the rail with both hands as soon as she dropped her boots, her eyes were already filled with tears.

Enraged that she wanted to cry, Ariel wiped the tears away. Why did she want to cry? Why was she so angry? What was wrong with her? She knew Jones bedded many women, everyone knew it. She never felt anything about it. Why was she so enraged and sad so suddenly? Maybe knowing was, after all, a lot different than actually _seeing_ it. But again, why did she care?

"Dope Eye told me you were having problems with light sleep, you could ease up on those steps, though," Milah's voice brought Ariel back from her thoughts. She observed as the brunette made her way towards her and stopped by her side. "You must have woken up the men below deck. Luckily there aren't many of them there."

"I wasn't sleeping," Ariel tried to make her voice sound normal, but she failed as the words caught in her throat, she cleared her it quietly. "I'm sorry I woke you up."

Milah immediately noticed something was wrong the moment the girl spoke, and tilted her head to try and catch a better look of Ariel's face.

"Are you crying?" Milah asked, surprised when she noticed by the reflex of the moonlight Ariel's cheek shining. Ariel avoided to look her in the eye and looked the other way, but Milah did catch a glimpse of her eyes, and she could swear they were flaring with rage.

"No," she lied. Cursing to herself at Milah's perception. The brunette wouldn't take it and walked to the other side of her, when Ariel tried to look away again, she took her by the hand.

"Ariel, come on, talk to me," Milah frowned, concerned. Ariel finally gave in and turned to look at Milah. Milah did see the very few tears wiped in the girl's cheek, but her blue eyes were a blank.

"Was it Adrian? Did he do something to you?" she asked, although knowing Adrian she highly doubted it. The mercenary was a charmer, a gentleman, not one to force his way with any lady.

"No, of course not," Ariel narrowed her look and shook her head.

"What, then?" Milah asked, still concerned.

But before Ariel could answer, she looked behind the red head and observed as two girls made their way from the door to the cabins' corridor to the plank out of the ship. She recognized one of the girls as the brunette that was with Jones earlier that night before he disappeared. Ariel followed Milah's glance, but quickly ignored the girls and looked straight again.

Milah followed the girls with her eyes all the way until they disappeared quickly in the dark streets, then she glanced back at Ariel, who looked as blankly as before. But she knew at once what happened. Although she was surprisingly excited to finally confirm that Ariel obviously had feelings for Jones, since she had secretly wanted them to be together, she felt bad all the same.

"He never brings them aboard, I've seen him do it only once," Milah explained lowly, Ariel looked down immediately. "And that's exactly what happens after. He must've been too drunk and wanted to make sure he'd sleep here not elsewhere."

"I don't care for it," Ariel stated, as if she said it enough times it would make it true. Milah stared at the red head's eyes in silence before continuing. Although Ariel hid it well, she remembered seeing a rage in them when she looked away, Milah smiled.

"Of course, you do sweetheart. Look at all that rage in your eyes," she took the young woman's hand in hers. "It's alright. It's normal to feel that way when you care… well, _differently_ for someone."

"I don't care _differently_ for Jones," Ariel narrowed her eyes again, obviously irritated at Milah's assumption. Or the fact she'd say it out loud. She wasn't sure.

"Well, answer honestly," Milah would try a different tactic. She had talked to Ariel many times before, and she knew the young woman perceived things a lot different than other people.

"Do you care for him the same way you care for me?" she asked lowly. Ariel kept her eyes narrowed. "For Jack? Dope Eye?"

"I…" Ariel started, but trailed off. Milah had a point right there, as soon as Ariel thought about the question, she knew that she didn't. But she was determined not to show it. "I don't understand what that has to do with anything."

"Have you ever been in love, sweetheart?" Milah asked, straight forward. Ariel shook her head.

"No? Never?" Milah wide opened her eyes. Ariel kept shaking her head at every question. "Not even when you were a sweet girl of sixteen?" when the girl shook her head again, Milah tilted her head to the side, confused. "You are an odd woman, darling."

Ariel remembered growing up in the sea. When she hatched, she was a little mermaid, just like a little human child of no older than five or six. She found her way with her sisters to the older mermaids that took turns into feeding the new ones when they hunted for themselves, as she had done herself many times after she matured. When they turned what would be 10 in human years, they'd hunt with the older ones. And when a mermaid matured, which would be around the same age as a sixteen-year-old human, she'd hunt for herself. Ariel had been hunting for herself for as long as she could remember, she looked no older than a 28-year-old human, but she had been in this life longer than that. Mermaids stopped aging after a time, and only died when captured and killed, otherwise they could live for centuries.

But even though Ariel was young, not even _a single century_ old yet, considering the mermaids she'd known were older than they could tell, she had never loved someone. She felt interested in Eric, and watched him for many and many months before meeting him on that fateful night, but she didn't feel she _loved_ him. She didn't know what love _was_. It was a human feeling, she heard all about it in her preys' minds, but she never felt it. She could understand why it would be hard for Milah to understand how Ariel had never been in love.

"I don't know what _is_ to be in love," she let her guard down, and finally stared back at the brunette's eyes. "I've seen it. I see it, you and Jack," she tried to explain in the best of her abilities without telling Milah her secret. "But I honestly don't know what it is like."

"Well, it _isn't_ like anything," Milah smiled when Ariel mentioned her and Jack. "You just feel it and you know it."

"I do feel different things with him," Ariel admitted and bit her lip, confused. "But I felt different with Adrian, too."

"The same way?"

"I'm not sure," she replied sincerely and looked away from the brunette's eyes.

"If it was Adrian there, with those girls," Milah tried again a different tactic, Ariel looked at her eye. "Would you feel what you just did?"

Ariel looked down and thought about it. The answer came to her faster than she'd expect. She was getting hang of figuring out what at least _some_ of these feelings were.

"No," Ariel shook her head and looked again at Milah's eyes. Milah smiled and caressed the girl's long curls with one hand.

"Jones is a difficult man to love, I've been around him long enough to know that," Milah continued lowly and smiled at the red head. "I'm not saying you love him. Love is a strong word and a very strong feeling; you will know when you feel it, trust me. For Jones, or Adrian or anyone else, you will know what it is the instant you feel it."

If it really was how Milah was saying, Ariel didn't love Jones. She felt something, but she'd know if it was love. And she didn't. She analyzed back and remembered how she felt much more scared to disappoint Jones and be banished from the Roger, than to be sold to Eric and pondered if this was the right thing to feel at that moment.

"You obviously feel something for Jones," Milah continued and Ariel had her attention on her again.

Milah waited for her to continue opening up, but the mermaid never spoke another word of it, lost in her own thoughts. Realizing that for someone who had never even fallen in love, the last wave of emotions must've been hard to deal with, she let go of the red head's hand and caressed her curls once again.

"Now, you should try and get some sleep," she said with a fond smile, and gestured for the girl to follow her back to the cabins. "I'm sure he left the cabin already, he must have woken up with your steps, but since you never walk that way, I don't think he realized you saw him."

"Are you coming to Quutamo?" Ariel hesitated at first, but Milah's theory sounded plausible, so she took her boots and accompanied the brunette.

"No, I will stay to look after the ship," Milah said even lower as she stopped at the door of her own cabin. "Be safe, huh? And don't kill yourself over what you feel. It's normal."

Ariel nodded with a half smile and stopped at the closed door of her cabin. She took a deep breath and opened the door, only to find the bed empty and the room in silence. She glanced at Milah, who waited patiently for her, and nodded as a sign that she was right, then entered the cabin and closed the door behind her. Suddenly a lot more tired than she was when she first came aboard that night.

**x**

"HELP!" Ariel screamed at the carriage coming her way on the road. Her eyes filled with fake tears that rolled down her cheek. The three horsemen in front of the carriage stopped at once, the carriage behind them, too. "PLEASE, HELP ME, SIR!"

Jones smiled as he observed the scene from behind the bushes and trees. This girl was indeed a natural. They had been there for less than a few minutes; Adrian again impressed the pirate with his impeccable precision.

They left Phrygia early in the morning, the sun barely rising in the horizon. Jones oriented Ariel to wear her dress, for they would need her to look innocent, but advised her to wear some pants under it, for they would ride horses. She seemed uneasy on the horse at first, and extremely afraid to fall, but Adrian helped her out and rode beside her. And Jones _hated_ that.

Why must the mercenary want Ariel? She wasn't there for him to simply want, like all the other women he'd been with and Jones had been with. Adrian had no idea who Ariel was. She wasn't one of them, and Adrian shouldn't want her. But he restrained himself to shooting the eventual look at the blond man whenever he seemed too friendly with her. Adrian, however, ignored his looks completely.

And there was Ariel following orders like a true pirate. Her acting was so good, even Jones believed it for a second. _She learned from the master_, he amused himself, remembering the countless times he used his looks in his favor. Adrian lay on the road, his face covered by a hood, a horse beside him. Jones enjoyed the scene in silence.

Ariel hadn't really had much time to think about what she'd seen and discussed with Milah the night before. What did happen was that she was a lot quieter around Jones when he took her and the others to meet with Adrian so they'd leave for the road. Jones spoke to her the same way he always did, with the smile and touches, which she felt a lot more vulnerable to, shivering from head to toe at every one of them, trying hard to keep her mind away from it.

"My lady, what's happened?" one of the men unhorsed. He wore light armor, just like the other two beside him, the on the reins of the carriage and the three others behind it, making a total of seven men. The exact same amount of men Jones took with him, counting Adrian, Hugo and himself. The plan was to take the carriage and disguise themselves, they'd leave the horses by the road, with two extra green sailors Jones took to watch over them.

"My husband is hurt!" Ariel said, faking the tears easier than she expected. Although confident in her act, she felt her hands shaking, which only helped her performance. "He fell from our horse, please, help!" she directed the man to Adrian lying on the road.

"Sir, are you alright?" as the man kneeled Ariel shot a look in Jones' direction among the trees and bushes. And faster than anyone could realize, Jones and his other six men came out of trees around the road and took the other six as quick as if they were children.

"Actually, I'm very alright," Adrian said as he stood up, his sword in the man's throat, who remained kneeled on the ground.

Jones killed the man who rode the carriage, ordered for his men to kill the others and kept only the man who helped Ariel alive, at the end of Adrian's sword. Ariel stood quiet observing everything, and wondering if she should be shocked with the killing when she didn't feel anything besides excitement that everything was going according to plan.

"Hello, beautiful," Jones said when he opened the carriage door and met the eyes of a very frightened young girl of no more than sixteen. She widened her eyes at once at the sight of him; there was not a soul in Quutamo who didn't know who Killian Jones was.

"Change of plans," he told the girl as he entered the carriage and she seated as away from him as she could. "If you stay quiet and cooperate I promise I won't hurt you, sounds fair?" he said, taking two ropes from his sheath. The girl nodded, frightened.

"Good girl," he winked at her and sat by her side, she never spoke a word as he tied her hands together and gagged her with a rope. Careful not to hurt the poor girl, it was traumatizing enough to be betrothed to Eric, who was at least 15 years her senior and not much of a gentleman.

"Ariel, come here, love," Jones said, popping his head out of the carriage. Ariel walked up to him and glanced at the girl, who instantly widened her eyes at the sight of the mermaid.

"Ah, she knows you, too! Fancy that!" Jones observed the girl's reaction to Ariel, who simply forced a smile to her.

"Watch her," he ordered, already stepping out of the carriage. "If she moves, you use that," he glanced at a sword he had given to he earlier that day before they left. "Pointy end, remember."

Ariel nodded in consent and entered the carriage, sitting across from the girl. Ariel observed as the men changed quickly and Jones and their hostage rode the front of the carriage, while the others took their positions. Ariel remained quiet; the girl stared at her stunned the entire way. This wasn't as awkward as Ariel thought it would be, most of the way she ignored the girl. And excitedly opened the curtain of the carriage slowly when they came to a halt. She couldn't see as much as she wanted but the dialogue that followed was perfectly clear.

"Gentlemen," a voice Ariel didn't recognize spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear. "His Majesty, King Richard of Quutamo and His Highness, his son, Prince Eric, are here to welcome the Lady of Kiita personally to her new home."

Jones counted quietly the men who stood behind King Richard, literally on his high white horse, his white beard trimmed and his hair cut shortly, and Prince Eric, with his navy uniform, that bastard smile on his face. Thirty men stood behind them, but fighting them wasn't really on his plans. Jones stood up when one of the men stopped talking; he carelessly left the carriage, taking his hood down. Almost immediately the thirty men took their swords in their hands, recognizing him at once.

"Ah, I'm touched," Jones said as loud as the man who spoke before. A smirk across his face. "All this for me?"

"Jones! Guards!" this voice, Ariel, who heard everything from the carriage, recognized at once: Eric.

Eric's men started to take a step towards Jones, but all the other men took down their hoods, revealing the Lady of Kiita was indeed in their power. They all stopped at once at the simple raise of the King's hand.

"I really wouldn't do that if I were you," Jones advised as he walked towards the carriage door.

"But, my, where are my manners?" Jones continued as he opened the door and gestured for Ariel to step out. She looked startled, but followed him.

"Eric, dear friend, I have here someone you will love to meet," he took Ariel by the hand to help her out of the carriage and gently pulled her hood down. "Eric, this is Ariel. Ariel, my long time friend Eric."

Only then Ariel actually saw the wave of men that stood behind Eric, her eyes met King Richard's briefly before she stopped them over the prince. He seemed uneasy on his horse at the sight of her, but Ariel imagined his heart wouldn't be beating as fast as hers. Suddenly she felt afraid again. _Really_ afraid. As a reflex, she took a small step behind, but her eyes never left the prince's.

"I knew it!" Eric exclaimed, his eyes flaring with rage. Jones, noticing Ariel's hesitance, stepped in front of her, blocking her view of Eric.

"Oh, right. She did mention you've met before, that's right," he said sarcastically, and took Ariel by the hand, taking her closer to the carriage and even farther away from Eric. He looked inside the carriage at the Lady of Kiita, clearly confused by the whole thing.

"Dear, are you sure you want to marry this one?" Jones asked, his voice as loud as before. "Ariel here surely has some stories to share," he said ironically.

Ariel stood exactly where he left her, but Jones wasn't the only one to notice how uneasy she was, despite her defiant look. Adrian, who had also left the carriage, approached her and stood by her side, winking at her and smiling reassuringly when he met her eyes.

"What do you want with this nonsense, pirate?" King Richard's voice was deep and strong. Jones smiled when he finally heard it, and turned to the king.

"Glad you asked, Your Majesty," he said calmly, the smirk never leaving his face. "You see, you have something I need. A ring, from the treasure of Agrabah. I'm sure you're familiar with it, although I doubt you were there yourself. Lovely place," he glanced at the prince. "You should go there on your honeymoon, Eric."

"All this, for the ring?" Richard asked almost in a hoarse laugh, but Jones noticed easily the doubt in the king's eyes and when he took a hand to his sheath.

"You haven't had time to make it work, huh? It's tricky, I hear, needs some sort of special magic," Jones explained casually, gesturing with his hand. "But my client knows exactly how to do it. Now if you please, I will trade the ring for the girl and be on my way before you see it."

"I'd never trade with a pirate," Richard said, disgusted, the exact words Jones expected him to. He smiled to himself, amused, as he played the king like a puppet, as he always had.

"Combat, then?" he suggested, knowing the king was as proud as his son and would never turn from a combat. "You're a man of old taste, Your Majesty, I admire that."

"I'll fight, father," Eric spoke up, but Richard's eyes never left Jones.

"Deal is I fight _you_, Your Majesty," Jones also ignored the prince, his eyes fixed on the king. "If you win, I'm yours as you've always wanted. If I do, I have the ring. And well, you can keep the lady, too young for my taste."

"Father, let me deal with—"

"Deal," King Richard's voice cut his son's and Jones smiled widely.

"Excellent." he said. _Everything going according to plan_, he thought.

* * *

_A/N: [winks] Uh-huh uh-huh, Jones is starting to feel something, eh? ;)_

_And oh yes, there is a little reference to A Song of Ice and Fire with the 'kissed by fire' thing ;)_ _Hope you guys enjoyed! Please keep reviewing!_


	9. Chapter VIII

_A/N: Hello everyone! Hope you guys had a wonderful holiday. Here's a brand new chapter! Lots of things happen here, I hope you like it! Thanks for all the views, reviews, faves and follows! :)_

* * *

**VIII**

"What is he doing?" Ariel whispered to Adrian by her side, her eyes fixed on the king leaving his horse and his men uneasy by his side.

"Part of the plan, _cherie_," Adrian whispered back.

Ariel had no doubt of that; every step Killian Jones took seemed to always be carefully planned. What she didn't understand was why was he doing that? She remembered when they left Phrygia and Jack, accompanied by two others, took another road. When Ariel asked Jones why, he simply told her what everyone always did their _'part of the plan'_. She was going with the flow, doing as she was told and asking as fewer questions as she could, but she would surely appreciate if they shared a little more with her.

Jones threw Ariel his long hooded cape when his eyes met hers and winked when she grabbed it in the air, smiling reassuringly to her. She managed a smile back, but her eyes went back to the King. Despite a lot older than Jones, the king was clearly in good shape, he didn't seem much preoccupied, his son, however, talked profusely to him while he prepared for combat.

The two men took form; while the king maintained his royal superior façade all along, Jones kept the smirk on his face. Ariel exchanged a brief look with Prince Eric before the king and the pirate's swords met and the duel began; she twitched a little where she stood and quickly looked away, to the two men fighting in front of her. While Jones swiftly moved from one side to the other and masterfully ditched the king's blows, King Richard was a lot more attacking than defending. Ariel could swear she detected a hidden anger in the bright eyes of the king whenever he attacked the pirate.

The few times Jones changed his strategy and attacked instead of defending, it was notable the apprehensiveness in the prince's and his guards' eyes. Ariel had seen other men sword fighting now and then, but she had never seen something quite like that duel before, it seemed both parts calculated every move, as if rehearsed… It wasn't until a few minutes after they started that she saw the first mistake: the king's sword slashed at once Jones' left arm, a little under his shoulder. Ariel jumped on her feet along with the others, but Jones laughed and didn't seem to mind. There was a pause when the king laughed as well, for the first time, and taking advantage of the pirate's sudden distraction with the attack, disarmed him.

Jones sword fell beside Ariel, in front of Adrian. Both the mercenary and the mermaid followed it with their eyes and looked up to the captain again, only Jones' eyes were locked in the king's in front of him. King Richard pointed his sword straight at the pirate. The end of the sword scratched slightly Jones' neck, who never stopped smiling.

"Are you serious?" Ariel whispered more to herself than to Adrian by her side.

"Part of the plan," Adrian whispered even lower to her. Ariel glanced quickly at him, but like the others, her eyes could barely look away from the two men.

"You lost, Jones," the king's strong voice spoke up. Jones nodded carefully, feeling the king's sword slashing slightly his neck.

"Kneel!" the king ordered at once and Jones raised both of his hands, following his command.

Next thing Ariel saw was the king kneeling on the ground in front of Jones, and not the other way around; Jones did motion to kneel, but only as far as to grab a dagger on his boot and carve it on the king's chest right in front of him. As the wounded king kneeled on the floor, Jones bent over, still holding his dagger, the smirk vanished from his face.

Eric twitched on his horse, but before he could order his men to attack Jones, he glanced at Adrian, who had his betrothed on his grasp, a sword in her neck and a defying look on his face, so he simply observed everything apprehensively as the others.

"You cheat!" the king's voice was weak and blooded dripped from his mouth as he spoke.

Jones ignored the king and took a brown leather sack in the king's sheath with his free hand while he held still the dagger with his other hand. He casually opened the sack and saw a shining diamond ring inside, he then threw the sack to Ariel, who caught it in the air more as a reflex than if she were expecting it. He then kicked the king's round sword, who dropped it when attacked, in Adrian's direction and the mercenary took it as well.

"Pirate, remember?" Jones stated after he kicked the sword, his eyes met the king's again, a mysteriously psychopathic grin formed on his lips, such as Ariel had never seen before.

"This…" Jones said slowly as he twitched the dagger and the king groaned in pain. Jones then looked at Eric in the eyes. "… Is for Flint."

When Jones finished speaking, he took the dagger from the king's chest strongly cutting the old man from heart to chin as he did. Ariel and the others stepped back in shock, the girl under Adrian's grasp screamed in horror as the blood splashed and practically washed Jones pants when Richard fell in front of him, dead.

Adrian threw the girl to Hugo when he realized what was going to happen. With the king dead, Eric's voice rang loudly in the forest to seize Jones at once, who showed no resistance at all and dropped the dagger before holding his hands up, surrendering himself as the kings' men swarmed him at once.

"No!" was all Ariel could manage to say, but before she could step forward to do something, _anything_, Adrian's arm grabbed her.

"Come, _cherie_," Adrian grabbed her waist at once and nodded to the others who still held Eric's betrothed hostage as their escape tool.

"But they are taking him!" Ariel protested as Adrian practically dragged her to a horse.

Eric's men surrounded Jones with arrows and spears, but did not dare to attack him without the prince's consent. Before they even thought of arresting Adrian, Ariel and the others, Jones' men took Eric's promised wife as hostage and they didn't dare to step forward to them.

"Leave them!" Eric ordered as he left his horse and approached Jones surrounded by his men.

"They aren't supposed to take him, he will kill him!" Ariel continued protesting when Adrian helped her up a horse.

"_Cherie_, we must go. _Now_." Adrian's voice was a deep and grave tone, as she hadn't heard before.

Ariel took the horse's reins and looked at Jones surrounded by guards, the pirate exchanged a reassuring look with her before she reluctantly followed Adrian and the others who brought the girl hostage in a horse as well and rode fast away from everything.

**x**

They reached Quutamo sooner than Ariel expected. Her mind rang with questions, she _needed_ answers. She felt a stabbing in her heart and a cold in her stomach that wasn't anything as good as the ones she felt whenever Jones' touched her. It was _fear_. They abandoned the girl in the middle of the forest, and Ariel even attempted to ask her questions, but Adrian did not allow her, saying they were on a schedule and once they arrived in Quutamo and met Jack and the others who took the other road that morning, she would have her answers, but it wasn't the time yet.

Adrian arranged for them rooms in a hidden tavern in a small villa in Quutamo. Ariel could see port from her room's window, the same port she met Eric for the first time. She could also see the mountain and the royal castle, not as far away from where they were and wondered if it was really safe where they were.

Ariel turned around at once when the door to her room opened and through it came Adrian, followed by Jack. Quutamo was a cold place, the drizzling rain made Ariel's hair wet and the cold wind didn't help it to dry, but she didn't mind. Equally wet Jack and Adrian closed the door behind them as they met the redhead's round questionable eyes.

"What is happening, Jack?" she tried to sound calm, but her voice shook with something she wasn't sure if was the cold or the fear.

"It was Jones' plan all along to kill Richard and surrender himself in," Jack explained calmly and approached the redhead, holding both of her shoulders, reassuringly. "While you were there and Jones was being taken by the murder of King Richard, we were in the castle, snuck in through some secret passages. Because this was unsuspected and unplanned, the entire city is in chaos when word reached along with the king's body. We needed that distraction to get ahold of Quutamo's new charts, ships and schedules. But here we are, and Jones will join us tomorrow."

"So it was all part of the plan…?" Ariel asked, starting to feel relieved. When Jack and Adrian nodded with their heads, she scoffed. "You could have shared this."

"I'm sure your reaction wouldn't have been the same, we needed to make it believable. Only Hugo and I knew, sweetheart," Jack explained calmly. Noting mentally Ariel's despair to the thought of Jones' being taken. "Even Adrian didn't, he only knew something would happen. The men who take the second watch of the cells tomorrow at noon are on our pockets. Jones will leave the castle and we will flee tomorrow afternoon."

"How did you know Eric wouldn't kill him?" Ariel asked. "Jones just killed his father."

"Eric wouldn't miss the chance to bring him to the city and parade the fact he has finally caught Captain Killian Jones," Jack explained with a smile. "Besides, Eric's been always trying to prove himself to his old man, I even bet he's relieved he's dead so he can be king at last."

It made sense. And Eric seemed even more disturbed to Ariel now, perhaps that explained the fact that he watched his father get killed by Jones and didn't do anything, even if that meant the life of his future wife; a girl that he had no emotional attachment whatsoever.

Jack left with Adrian after kissing fondly Ariel's forehead and telling her not to worry, and advising her to rest soundly, for they were safe in that inn. She handed him the brown sack with the ring and the king's sword Adrian left with her, as well as Jones' hooded cape, and both the quartermaster and the mercenary left her alone in the room. After relieving her conscience, Ariel threw herself on the bed and fell soundly asleep before she could even notice.

When she woke up, at night, at the sound of the tavern downstairs at the inn filled with people and music, she felt her legs sore of the riding and cursed horses in her mind, before standing up, putting on her boots and leaving her room. She met Jack downstairs having a beer with the rest of his crew and Adrian.

"I take it you have rested," Jack smiled when she joined him by his side.

"Not enough," Ariel said lowly and took a sip of the beer a busty waitress brought her. "The noise woke me up."

"Why don't you come with me?" Adrian said, standing behind her. "I will take a stroll in the villa. Here, wear this," he gave her the black velvet cape with a hood he was wearing.

Ariel exchanged a look with Jack, who nodded with his head for her to go and took a long sip of the beer before standing up and putting on the cape and hood, leaving with Adrian by her side.

**x**

The redhead made sure to put on the hood and hide her hair under it when she left the tavern, afraid someone would recognize her the same way that poor girl did. She strolled slowly by Adrian's side and allowed herself to feel the cold breeze of the city on her face. Adrian's hood was a lot warmer than hers, so she mentally thanked him when she barely felt the cold on her skin.

Adrian, by her side, however didn't seem bothered with the cold or the thin drizzling rain that surrounded them, even without a hood or cape, he seemed accustomed enough. It wasn't until they were deep into the villa walking by some peasants unnoticed that he started speaking what was on a his mind since that afternoon.

"You were awfully terrified for Jones," he said, lowly. Ariel glanced at him for a second before returning her look to the people passing, the merchants and the lit houses and taverns along the way.

"Well, yes…" she replied shyly, unsure of what to say. "He could have died."

"Does that thought upset you?" Adrian asked more straightforward than he wished. Ariel didn't look at him this time; she could feel her cheekbones burning.

"Doesn't it upset _you_?" she asked back with a faked indignant tone. Adrian smiled, even though she didn't look at him.

"Not as much as you, I'd think," he replied slyly with a grin. Ariel, feeling her cheekbones easing, glanced at him.

"Whatever you're implying…?" the redhead asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Me?" Adrian said with an innocent tone, and then wrapped his arm playfully around the mermaid. "I'm not implying anything, _cherie_. Just observing."

Ariel smiled at him and nodded suspiciously, only when she looked straight again that she saw a commotion by a small tavern. People gathered around something that she couldn't make up what it was, she frowned her look.

"What's that over there?" Ariel asked curiously. Adrian exchanged a look with her and shrugged, still with his arm around her waist, before he approached the crowd with her.

"Hello, _madame_," Adrian approached an old peasant lady who walked away from the middle of the crowd. "Could you tell us what's that all about?"

"Killian Jones," the woman replied with a strong accent, and then waved towards the crowd. "Says the sign they've got him, finally. That is good riddance for him, if you ask me."

She waved again at the crowd and walked away with the rest of them, revealing a wooden post with dozens of signs glued and stapled to it. A boy with a stack of paper signs left the middle of the crowd and past Adrian and Ariel, but the mercenary managed to get one of the signs from his hands before he walked away to the next post.

"What's that?" Ariel asked, apprehensively when she looked down at the sign in Adrian's hands and saw Jones' face drawn on it along with words.

"It says…" Adrian trailed off. Ariel exchanged a look with him and he cleared his throat. "It says Jones will be executed tomorrow at first light, by the port. It's inviting the people to attend it."

"Oh my," Ariel gasped. Feeling the cold in her stomach all over again as soon as she remembered what Jack told her early that evening: Jones would leave when the noon watch started. If the execution was at first light...

"It's in the morning, that's not possible…" Adrian seemed to be following the same trail of thought as her. His voice was low, his look as terrified as the redhead in front of him.

"I suppose that wasn't in the plan?" Ariel asked almost in rage and took the sign from Adrian's hands, hiding it under her hood. "Damn it all! We have to tell Jack!"

**x**

"Yes, this wasn't in the plan," Jack sighed after reading the sign and laid his back against the chair. His slightly tanned skin gave room to a pale tone, but his voice was as calm as ever.

"I told him from the beginning how unpredictable Eric is," he continued, and then looked from the sign on the desk to Ariel and Adrian standing in front of him.

The duo returned to the tavern quickly, Ariel grabbed Jack by the arm in the middle of the tavern and took him upstairs without uttering a word. The pirate followed her puzzled to her room, with Adrian right on their heels. She threw him the sign and he had to sit down on the chair by the wooden desk when he read it. Now Ariel and Adrian stood from him, the redhead clearly demanding answers with her piercing blue eyes.

"You seemed very sure of Killian's plans when we talked," she observed. She didn't doubt Jack warned Jones of Eric, but he could've been more convincing.

"I needed to calm you down," Jack explained. Although he wanted to believe that Jones' mad plan would work as it always did, he was as concerned as Ariel when they met that afternoon.

"Well, we must do something!" Ariel's voice was as shaky as her heartbeat. She looked from Jack to Adrian, as if hoping for them to come with a plan.

"He'll figure something out," Jack spoke and Ariel's eyes were on him again. "We can't tell the others, they will flip."

"What if Jones doesn't know he'll be executed?" Ariel asked and looked again at Adrian who nodded his head slightly as if he thought it a possibility as well.

"That's impossible," Jack scoffed, but inside his stomach twisted with the possibility.

"Well, _you_ didn't know!" Ariel protested, clearly losing her nerve. Adrian exchanged a look with Jack before the pirate stood up and took the redhead by the shoulders, just like earlier that day.

"Ariel, we can't do anything, not now," his voice was still as calm as ever, but inside he was sure his heart raced as much as hers. "Not rushed like this, we need a plan."

"We don't have time!" Ariel looked up straight at Jack's eyes. Jack could swear that for a glimpse he could see tears in her blue ones.

"I have to think, I'll speak with Hugo…" Jack looked from her to Adrian, who nodded in consent, but before the two men could leave, Ariel took Jack's hand.

"Wait!" she stopped the two of them with her voice. Jack looked back. "You said you know secret passages."

"They're guarded, sweetheart. We need a plan."

"Show them to me, I can help," Ariel almost pleaded, and then took a step closer to Jack, holding his hand with both of hers. "I can at least think it through with you. Please, it will ease my mind if I do something."

Jack exchanged one last look with Adrian before he nodded to the redhead and left the tavern with her, leaving it to Adrian to architect a second plan with Hugo. It couldn't harm to have another head thinking.

**x**

Ariel quietly followed Jack through a forest by the end of the mountain the tavern and the small villa stood. They went up by a very difficult trail, but managed just fine, it wasn't until an hour later that they reached an end to the trail. Down below, hidden under bushes and trees, Ariel could see a small-bricked wall that separated an enormous backyard of the castle from the forest.

She looked and analyzed the back of the grand brick castle, and observed as a man stood by a tiny wooden door to one of the many towers, that tower was the only one that led to the backyard.

"See that door with the guard?" Jack whispered by her side. Ariel nodded. "When you enter, to the left there's a marked heavy stone that when moved reveals a tiny path, that path leads straight to the end of the cell's hallway. We could never take a large party up there for the rescue."

"So the lesser people the better?" Ariel followed his thought, observing the one guard by the deserted door.

"Yes," Jack nodded, observing the guard as well.

"The tinier, too," she continued, nodding with him.

"Yes, but…" when he glanced at Ariel, he met the young woman's questionable eyes in front of him and at once understood what she meant.

"Wait. No." he shook his head.

"I can do it," Ariel protested lowly. She was a lot smaller than Jack and any of the pirates; her tiny height and petite body would go almost unnoticed. All she needed to do was to sneak in and kill whoever might see her.

"Milah told me you are a terrible with a sword," Jack argued back, Ariel shook her head, although she agreed with him.

"But I'm a good deceiver," she pointed out. He nodded at that.

"You can't deceive your way past the guards," he continued, even though she had a point.

"If I'm sneaky enough they won't see me coming, huh?" she stood up at once from the bushes and Jack followed her immediately.

When he got up, however, the girl took the king's sword he kept by his own for Jones and hid behind her own hooded cape. Without thinking twice, she started descending the small bank to the bricked wall.

"Ariel!" he whispered a little louder and hid behind the bushes again when her steps made a noise on the fallen leaves. He observed as she escalated and jumped the wall to the castle backyard and cursed under his breath how crazy the redhead was.

**x**

"Sir!" Ariel yelled at once when her feet touched the stoned ground of the backyard and the guard by the door saw her. "Oh my, please sir! Help me!"

"What happened, milady?" concerned, but suspicious, the guard waited by the door as Ariel approached him, running.

"Oh my, you cannot believe it!" she said under her breath, her voice shaky with excitement, fear and the acting as well. He looked down at her when she stopped in front of him.

"My lady, what happened?" he repeated gravely and was caught off guard when she approached him, took his face gently with both hands and kissed his lips.

"This," she said between the kiss and evolved her tongue on his when he opened his mouth, in a matter of seconds the man choked and fell, poisoned at her feet.

"Well, that still works," she whispered to herself. Hoping Jack thought she simply stabbed the man; he couldn't see properly what she did by that distance. She then kneeled on the ground and took a huge rusty key on the man sheath and opened the door.

She closed the door right behind her and looked straight at the endless stoned stairwell in front of her. She went up a few of the steps and took a blowtorch, then went down again and looked at her left. The wall was made of heavy big stones as tall as her legs and she searched for one with a mark. It wasn't long until she saw two small swords crossed drawn on the left bottom of a stone and then she pulled her weight against the stone and pushed. Nothing. Then hard. Nothing. Harder. And finally the stone started moving, slowly.

Ariel continued pushing for a few minutes and felt drops of sweat rolling down her tempers, she finally had pushed enough to let herself through an indeed very tiny path. She could move herself freely, but a man as tall as Jones or Jack would definitely need to mind his head, and only one person could go at a time, no side by side.

Ariel sighed and followed down the tiny path, the more she made her way through it, the more she felt her breathing go faster and faster. The path went up and up, and she felt somewhat desperate in the tiny space, the hooded cape made her hot and she felt sweat all over her body. She was already feeling as if she was losing her breath when finally she reached a stoned wall in front of her. She searched the stones and on the bottom she saw one with the same drawing of swords crossing by the bottom left.

One more time she sat on the floor and laid her body and weight against the stone and pushed hard, but slowly not to make any noise. When it opened one tiny bit, she looked outside and saw a broad long corridor illuminated by blowtorches and the moonlight from tiny windows. It took her a few more minutes to push it enough for her to pass, but she managed, leaving the torch behind and standing up and taking cover behind a column.

By her right there was a stair, probably the end of the one she saw when she entered the tower and the stoned wall where she come from. On her left was the broad corridor with cells, illuminated by the moonlight and blowtorches. Ariel breathed heavily and peaked one more time from the column. One guard stood watch by the end of the long corridor, beside a cell. Another guard was closer, probably no more than ten feet from where she was hidden, and he had his back to her.

Ariel crouched on the floor and took a small stone with her hand. She then threw in on the stair. The stone kicked over the first steps and she heard a voice from the corridor.

"What is that?" a distanced voice yelled.

"Can't be anything, Dony is down there!" a closer voice yelled back.

"Well, go check it!" the first voice yelled again.

There was a loud sigh followed by steps. Ariel sighed deeply with herself as she heard the steps approaching. She took her hand to the handle of the king's sword tied by a belt on her waist over her dress. She took it slowly when she saw the man walking past her towards the stairs, when his back was already to her and he was hidden by the column, so the other by the end of the corridor couldn't see him, Ariel took another sigh and struck him at once on his chest, hoping for the best.

Before the man could scream or react, Ariel covered his mouth with her free hand, and pushed the sword harder on his chest. Although she aimed for his upper back, the sharp sword took the man by his bottom right back, and when she pushed it further, it perforated him completely to his other side. Ariel felt his body weight against her and strongly held him and laid him down not to make any noise.

"Well, what then?" the man by the end of the corridor yelled when he didn't see his friend back or heard his voice.

Ariel searched the man she killed for keys, but found none. Figuring it could be with the other one, she stood up and hid by the column when she heard steps approaching again.

"Well, if that's some sort of joke, I tell ya-" the man spoke as he approached the column, but stopped as soon as he saw his friend's body on the ground. He took his sword at once and glanced to the side, only to see Ariel holding her sword as well.

He met Ariel's sword in the air quickly. The girl shook from head to toe; that was all she knew about sword fighting, sticking it and blocking a first up attack. When he released his sword from hers, Ariel thought quickly and approached him to kiss his lips. She felt a slash on the left of her waist, but held on when her tongue met the man's and he fell to the ground, poisoned as the first one that night.

Ariel stepped away and took her free hand to the slash on her waist. It was a deep, yet still superficial cut, but still she felt a sting nonetheless and blood quickly stained her dress. On the rush of the moment she ignored what happened and searched the second man, finding a set of iron keys on his belt, then took it, sheathed the sword again and with a hand holding her wound, walked down the corridor.

"What the f-?" was Jones' indignant words when he saw Ariel emerging from the corridor in front of his cell; the last one there. All the cells were empty except for his and an old frail man beside his, who observed Ariel as indignant as the pirate.

"What are you doing here?" Jones asked indignantly as Ariel tried the keys on the lock of his cell. He walked up to her and looked down. She looked a mess, but she never looked up to him, trying one key after the other.

"They will hang you, tomorrow," Ariel answered after a pause, when she finally opened the cell, and then looked up to him.

"What?" he frowned and scoffed. "No, they won't," Ariel reached for an inside pocket of her cloak and gave the sign she made sure to take with her to Jones.

"Not part of the plan, huh?" she asked, sarcastically, when Jones wide opened his eyes as he read the sign. He then noted the red stains on the paper then on her hands.

"You are wounded," he stated and tried to take her hands, but she was already walking away.

"No, I'm not, it's the guards' blood," she lied and continued walking. "We must go, quickly."

Jones took the keys from his cell lock and threw to the other prisoner that observed everything as startled as the pirate. He then followed the redhead down the corridor, still impressed and confused at everything.

"You could have died," he argued while she tried to push the stone further so he could go past it, then pulled her gently by the arm and with just a movement pushed the stone completely away.

"I'm sure the men would come up with a plan," he continued lowly when she stopped to let him through.

"We didn't have time for a plan," she whispered, under her breath.

She felt the blood dripping from the wound down her leg, but held the cape tight, hiding under it. She felt the sting harder and harder, but would never let him see it. Jones sighed, not even aware that she was bleeding, when he saw the two men bleeding on the ground, her explanation for the blood seemed reasonable. And upon realizing this wasn't the best moment to argue with her about her crazy idea of rescuing him alone, he simply went through the path, taking the torch and waiting for to follow him.

It wasn't until they were back at the other side of the wall and up the bank that Jones saw Jack by a tree, clearly apprehensive. The quartermaster almost shouted when he confirmed it was indeed his captain in front of him, he hugged Jones at once, who despite thankful for the rescue, still was mad Ariel went up there alone.

"You brought her here?" Jones asked, before Jack and Ariel could rush back to the villa with him. The redhead and the quartermaster exchanged a look.

"I didn't expect her to go up there alone," Jack knew this was coming in case Ariel succeeded and in case she didn't as well. Jones would be pissed with him for letting her act on her own. He tried to explain calmly. "We were only collecting information."

"Never again act on your own," Jones pointed straight to Ariel, his voice deep and his expression as serious as when he killed Richard.

"A thank you would suffice," Ariel replied sarcastically. Not believing how ungrateful he was.

"You almost got yourself killed!" he raised his voice. It couldn't be true how unbelievably crazy this woman was. How she did not grasp reality at all. She could have been killed. Easily. Sure as hell she grasped _that_.

"So did you!"

"Uh, Jones?" Jack awkwardly spoke up between their shouts. Jones glanced at him and the quartermaster pointed at the castle with his eyes, Jones followed and saw a commotion by the door.

"We should leave," Jack continued. "Immediately."

**x**

The way back to tavern was filled with an awkward silence. Ariel breathed deeply, holding in her wound now that Jones wasn't paying as much attention to her every move as before. She felt dizzier by the moment and went up the stairs of the tavern as soon as they reached it; she went straight to Adrian's room and asked for his help with the wound, making him swear not to tell anyone of it.

Adrian treated her wound quickly. The slash was deep, but still superficial, it must have taken her by a glance, if not, it could've been deadly. He didn't ask her what happened or how she got it, she simply informed him Jones was back and he needed to help her fast because she thought they'd ride out soon.

Adrian left her to take a bath and change into a clean equally simple dress he bought for her from a seamstress in the villa. After the bath, Ariel slept soundly on Adrian's bed. She could still feel the sting where her skin was slashed, but not as much as before. Adrian told her to take a small bottle he brought from downstairs, saying it was medicine to make her stronger.

Not long after she fell asleep, a knock on the door announced Hugo before he opened the door and Ariel woke up in time to see the pirate tell them they were leaving. Ariel put on the cloak Adrian had given her and took the sword, before following the mercenary down the stairs and to the stable by the tavern where they left their horses.

It wasn't until Ariel reached the stables that she saw Jones again. He shot a look at her and seemed to intend to go to her, but Jack put a hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear, so he mounted his horse and rode away, followed quickly by Ariel and the others.

They rode fast through a different road than the one Ariel took; she figured it must have been the road Jack took to reach Quutamo faster, for they reached Phrygia and The Golden Hand before sunrise. The sun stood shyly on the east, announcing it would rise soon, but the pouring rain that greeted them in the city said they wouldn't be able to set sail that day.

Ariel entered The Golden Hand's stable at last with her horse; the others had already left their horses there and were inside the tavern, including Adrian. She dismounted and tapped the animal's neck gently before leaving the stable again. She didn't mind the rain anymore, already soaked wet from it. She even let her hood down to feel the drops on her face, but her quiet appreciation of the rain was interrupted when Jones' voice came from behind her.

"Ariel," he called. He must've been waiting for her outside the stables, yet she did not see him there when she entered. She turned around to look at him.

"Yes," she said almost in a groan. The concerned look on his face showed that he was not about to say thanks for saving his life.

"You should never, _ever_, act on your own," although his look was a mist of concern and even a bit of anger from the night before, his voice was a lot calmer.

"I've always acted on my own," she shrugged, but her voice was back to the indignant tone as the night before.

"But now you are not alone!" Jones raised his voice and lost his temper all over again with her reply. _Stubborn woman_.

"I saved your life. _Again_." she stated, looking him straight in the eye. Neither of them bothered at all by the rain anymore. "Why don't you just thank me and be done with it?"

"You could have _died_!" Jones maintained his tone rose. How could she not perceive how dangerous that situation was for her?

"But I didn't!" she replied as indignant as before. "And stop yelling at me! What is wrong with you?"

What was wrong with him, indeed? Of course he was mad as hell that she would act alone, putting in jeopardy his entire plan and crew, even though he had no idea Eric would want to have him executed that fast, he was sure his men would come up with something. And acting alone wasn't something a member of his crew was allowed to do. But what was this the only reason? Deep inside he knew that when he shouted she could have died, _this_ was the main reason. He wasn't even aware of it until she asked why he was yelling at her...

"Sorry, am I interrupting?" a third voice came from their left, from the tavern. They both looked at its direction and saw Adrian.

Jones and Ariel answered in unison, but their answers were quite different. While Jones replied with an angry _"Yes"_, Ariel said a pleading _"No"_. They both looked away from Adrian and locked eyes on each other's again.

"We can leave now, if you want," Adrian completely ignored Jones' yes, and walked towards Ariel.

"Yes," Ariel said, already turning to his side. She then took the king's sword she had on her belt and handed it to Jones. "This is Richard's sword. It's yours."

Jones took the sword, but before he could reply or tell Adrian to get the hell out of there, Ariel left with the mercenary without saying another word.


	10. Chapter IX

_A/N: Hello everyone! Yes, it's been a while. I'm deeply sorry... I moved to another country recently, so the past couple of months has been all about that. Everything is sort of settled now, so I'll probably go back to my normal update schedule of at least a chapter a week. Thanks so much for hanging in there.  
And I do want to thank all the awesome reviews! They made me smile so much! Please, keep letting me know what you think! I hope you enjoy the chapter :)_

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**IX**

Queen Regina had always wanted Quutamo in her hands; that tiny annoying kingdom that stood between her and Midas, that stuck up pig of a king. After she conquered the alliance of King George, who stood on the other side of her kingdom, Quutamo was all that she needed to secure her lands with all the tranquility she needed. So, when word reached that the newly crowned King Eric wanted to propose something to her, she wasn't even bothered to ride all the way to Quutamo in all that falling snow.

As she was directed to the main hall of Quutamo's dark stoned castle, she looked around dubiously as how could a kingdom so badly ruled have survived on its own for so long. Quutamo was more than known for being the worst victim of piracy in their world; poor King Richard couldn't catch a break. It wasn't until a few years past that he seemed to have taken control of what happened with his ships, but King Eric's sudden need to ask for her help somewhat told her that perhaps Richard wasn't in such good waters as he preached to his people.

"What would I want with a bean? We all know there are no more magic beans." Regina heard King Eric's annoyed voice speak by the end of the grand hall.

The hall was filled with soldiers and no one else. Regina's own men waited outside, not that she needed any help from them. She waited as a soldier shakily asked her to wait, and looked far at the other end of the hall at the young king sitting by the steel throne and talking to the only peasant in sight; an old frail man kneeled in front of him.

Eric. So handsome, so young and so… _Stupid_. Regina rolled her eyes at the scene in front of her, almost amused at the new king having the nerve to make her, the Evil Queen, wait. But she was in good moods; while Eric's father protested and never accepted her alliance, it seemed Eric's first order was to summon her. So she wouldn't pester, she took it as an opportunity to see with her own eyes what everyone said: how stupid and reckless Richard's only son and heir were.

"Your Majesty, it is said it's a magic bean," the elder's voice was almost a muffled sound to Regina's ears. "All I ask is for some warm food in return."

King Eric rolled his eyes at the request. He could not believe he was wasting his time on that. When he saw Queen Regina waiting patiently yet with a very scornful look by the grand doors of the hall, he sighed and nodded carelessly with his head, ordering his valet to take the man away. He didn't even take a second look at the white transparent bean before putting it away in a velvet small sack he kept by his sheath, and then ordered for his man to approach with the Queen.

"Well, sounds as if you've gotten everything figured it out," Regina's voice rang in walls as she walked towards the young prince. She knew what that bean was and how valuable it could be, something Eric obviously didn't.

"Oh, peasants," Eric faked a smile. And ordered for all of his men to leave at once when Regina stopped in front of his throne and down the steps. As his men left, he stood up and walked down to the queen.

"I believe our new alliance could be much profitable for both of us," the young king continued as he stopped in front of Regina, who reacted with nothing more than a raised brow to his words.

"And to what do I owe the honor?" Regina didn't even try to hide her sarcasm. Eric, however, chose to ignore.

"Regina," Eric pronounced her name with an ironic smile, Regina simply stared at him. "You must know I've always advised my father that uniting forces with you would be best for our kingdom. Well, now that I'm king, I plan to do it."

"I sense you are about to ask me something," the Queen said with an unchanging not amused expression, but inside she smiled with the possibility.

"Well, first things first," Eric smiled nonetheless. He then gestured to one of his men and the knight left the hall only to return minutes later carrying a body with a second man helping him.

Regina observed everything with a superior expression and examined the body that was placed before her feet. For a moment she actually thought that could be Snow White, but as the knights uncovered the body it revealed no more than a serving guard.

"What's this?" she glanced at Eric.

"This is a dead body," Eric stated the obvious, and Regina was about to snap a snarky comment when he continued. "The only problem is, he doesn't have any wounds."

"People die all the time from all kinds of reasons, Eric," Regina tried to keep her calm, but somehow Eric's suspense was irritating her.

"I have a feeling that this was no sickness," Eric turned the man's face using the tip of his boot, as if disgusted by the body. Then Regina saw it, the man's lips were of a dark purple and the colour followed through his neck as if someone had drawn his veins on his skin.

"This looks like magic to me," Eric continued and ordered for one of his men to open up the man's shirt, only to reveal his chest where his heart would be was an even darker shade of purple.

"Why is it so important to you how one of your men died?" Regina couldn't help to ask. She had an idea of what that could be, but before she would go out of her way to be sure, she had to understand this better.

"He's not the only one with these… marks." Eric explained. "Another one died the same way, although this one had a flesh wound. They were protecting something important."

"Someone, you mean?" Regina smiled sarcastically. "Captain Killian Jones, yes, I heard how he escaped your guards, just like that."

"Someone helped him." Eric tried his best to ignore the queen's sarcasm, but his expression clearly wasn't content with the mockery in her voice. "Someone with magic."

"So let me see if I understand your terms," Regina said. "You want me to find out who's on Jones' side and then you will join forces with me?"

"If you help me find out who helped Jones and consequently capture him, I will give you Snow White," Eric answered fast, as if he had rehearsed that conversation all that time. He saw a glow in the Queen's eyes. "I have on good account that she's hidden in my lands."

Regina didn't say a word. She had heard this, too. The last news she had was that Snow White had crossed Phrygia, so she should be in Quutamo, indeed. She glanced one last time at the new king and graciously crouched beside the dead body, with a deftly movement she carved her hand in his chest and took his heart out. She stood up with the unbeating black heart in her hand and at once sensed what had happened.

"Oh, it wasn't magic that helped your pirate, Eric," she smiled, amused, then glanced at the young king. "It was a mermaid. Fitting for a pirate to have a mermaid friend, don't you think?"

**x**

Ariel opened her eyes slowly. Everything around her was dimly illuminated by a wax candle, half burned already, sitting over the simple wooden desk. Although the hardwood windows were closed, she could figure it was already dark, for no light insisted in coming inside the room.

The redhead was on her right side, staring at the window, she took a deep breath, still waking up and moved her body slowly under the hard cotton sheet, very different from the silky ones that covered her aboard the Jolly Roger. When she lied on her back she realized by the feeling of the sheet on her entire body that she was naked. And in the blink of her eyes, she remembered everything.

On her left side, Adrian slept quietly, his breathing steady. He lied on his back, one arm under his head and the other over his chest. He was naked, too. Ariel remembered everything in detail, even though Adrian told her that if she drank some wine she wouldn't be so nervous. She felt the inner part of her thighs a little sore and she knew it wasn't from riding a horse.

So this was what the sailors she lured to the sea always thought about when they heard her voice and saw her in front of them. This is their lust. She understood it perfectly now. It was indeed _very_ pleasing. Ariel enjoyed it more than she wanted to admit. And Adrian was, if anything, gentle and loving with her. But for some unexplained reason, Jones came into her mind.

Ariel frowned at herself and stood up quietly, trying to stop her thoughts. She grabbed her dress that was splattered on the floor and put it on quietly, then took her boots and hood and left the room at the tips of her toes not to make noise. She could feel the sting of her wound still, but breathed deeply and continued to walk.

Once she was by herself in the tiny hallway of the inn, she put on her boots and hood and walked down the stairs and out of the inn without taking a single look around. As she reached the streets of Phrygia, a cold chill of wind greeted her, she embraced herself and walked to port, again avoiding looking around, but most of all, evading thinking about she had done. She enjoyed it, very much, yet she didn't, at the same time. Why? She did not know. Being a human wasn't as good as she thought out to be, all those feelings were beyond confusing. And Jones warned her of that. _Jones_. _Again_.

The redhead boarded the Jolly Roger as she had done many times. Some of the few men that were aboard greeted her with looks and nods. She smiled faintly and went directly to the captain's cabin, only to stop in front of the closed door, unsure if she should enter or not.

"He's not there, love," Jack's voice caught her by surprise. She looked at its direction and he stood by the door of his own cabin, with Milah by his side.

"Oh, I wasn't…" she started, but trailed off. Jack smiled when her cheeks reddened.

"You should take a bath though, you smell of French perfume," Jack said sarcastically and Milah pinched him.

"Yes, I know, you're right," Ariel replied, not the least bit offended, which left both Milah and the quartermaster puzzled. And without waiting for an answer, she entered the cabin.

**x**

Ariel had her head under the water, her eyes closed, she breathed slowly, relaxing. She wiggled the tip of her fin slowly. It had become a routine of hers that whenever she had a bath, she would turn her legs into a fin again, even if only for a little while. Her increased senses would tell her whenever someone was approaching, and if it were someone she knew well, she could smell the person and even know who it was. She always had enough time to turn back before someone entered the room, even though the only person who had ever entered without knocking was Milah, but the brunette never caught her.

She was with her thoughts somewhere else; at the bottom of the sea, singing and luring a merchant ship to the rocks of her cave to sink. This had happened not long before she made the deal with the Dark One, yet the memory was almost faint in her mind. But the taste of human flesh, the heart of her preys, _that_ taste filled her mouth at once.

The redhead opened her eyes, for the first time scared of that thought. She missed the taste of human flesh, now more than ever, but she never felt scared by that thought. Perhaps she was indeed becoming human… But steps in the hall took her mind away from her thoughts. She recognized the sound of the boots and the smell of wine and salt at once: Jones.

Only this time, Jones didn't knock. He opened the door and entered, closing it at once when he saw Ariel's fin dangling from outside the tub. She emerged and sat on the tub with her head popped out, her hair was as dry as if it had never touched the water, as always when she was in mermaid form.

"You should be careful with that," although the thought of someone seeing her in that form frightened him for a second, Jones' voice was as calm as ever.

"I knew it was you," she spoke lowly, and even though she wasn't even close to singing, Jones felt driven immediately to her. Ariel glanced at him by the door and noted that even though she wasn't seducing him, her mermaid form wouldn't let his soul rest, and so she turned her fin to legs again.

"Right, the mermaid hearing and sensing thing," he answered at once when she turned human again, as if something snapped him back. He walked to the other side of the room and stopped by the wooden table, only to turn around and see her stepping out of the tub as if he wasn't even there.

"So you don't turn back with the dress," he pointed out as she walked naked to his direction and took the towel that hanged on one of the chairs by the table.

"No," she answered simply, drying herself. He couldn't help himself and ran his eyes through her entire body, down and then up again, only to stop his glance at the stitches on her waist. Something he didn't notice up until then.

"What's that on your waist?" he frowned. He _knew_ that blood from the night before was hers. It looked like a pretty big cut, but not so deep.

"It's a wound," Ariel replied deftly and wrapped the towel around herself at once, hiding the wound, holding it by her breasts.

"Let me see it," he gestured as if he was going to take her hand, but she stepped back as quickly as she wrapped the towel around her body.

"No," her voice was as steady as the look in her eyes locked on his. He sighed and decided not to push it, then handed a dark velvet bag he was holding to her.

"What's this?" she looked suspicious at the bag, then back at his eyes.

"It's your share of the treasure of Agrabah," he explained and seeing as she did not even move to take it, he put it over the table. So, she was mad at him for the way he yelled at her, he concluded.

"I thought only a member of the crew…" she started, but stopped when he took a black bandana from one of his coat pockets and handed to her. This she took with a free hand, while the other held the towel around her body.

"You made it faster than most lads," he continued due to her stunned silence. She stared at the bandana in her hand. "This was in the chest as well," he took yet another thing from his pocket: a golden necklace, the pendant was a mermaid, its hair red as hers, made of ruby.

"I thought you'd want it," without waiting for an answer he put it over her head and around her neck. She took the pendant with her hand and looked down at it.

"Thank you," she managed to say. Her voice was faint, impressed. She then snapped and looked back at his eyes. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but is this you saying you're sorry?"

"Why would I be sorry?" his voice was almost a scoff. She frowned at that and he cleared his throat. "Yes, I shouldn't have yelled. But you _could _have died. This crew, we work together, you never and I do mean _never_ do anything without discussing it first."

"Sorry. I was—"

"Caught up in the moment," Jones finished her sentence. She smiled faintly and nodded. "You do that a lot. You must be careful. Jack thinks you're insane, _really _insane, not normal insane."

Jones was mad out of his mind the night before for Ariel just waltzing inside Eric's castle to rescue him. He told himself ever since they arrived in Phrygia that the real reason for him being mad was because she could have put the entire crew in jeopardy. But in reality, looking at her then, in front of him, he knew this wasn't the real reason. He found himself staring at where her wound would be under the towel, wondering what could have happened.

"I'm not insane," her voice was more defensive than offended. He looked her back in the eyes. "I just do things… I don't…"

"You don't understand how dangerous things are, I understand. You're new to this. All of this. But from now on, discuss it first."

Although the fact that Ariel being what she was indeed had no idea how things worked and thus was destined to end up in trouble without even realizing concerned him, at the same time, that free nature of the mermaid could have been the main reason why he was so worried about her, rather than what could happen to his ship or crew in that situation. He liked it, he was drawn to it.

"I'm sorry," Ariel nodded. Perhaps he was right, she could have been seriously wounded, and what if she couldn't have saved him and ended up in a cell with him? Things would turn out much worse.

The redhead approached him and left the bandana over the table, then opened the velvet sack with her free hand and touched the shiny gold coins inside. It was indeed very pretty, this _gold thing_. She had seen in before, but that one she earned. She could see why pirates were so drawn to it.

"This is pretty…" she said more to herself than to Jones. The pirate observed her curiously as she touched the coins with the tips of her fingers. For an unexplainable reason, he wanted to know what was going on through her mind. And when it came to Ariel, lately a lot of things he felt were unexplainable to him.

"I know about the Roger," Ariel said suddenly and looked up to the captain's eyes. He was taken aback, not by the revelation, but by the timing. He stared at her eyes for a moment.

Ariel often though about the story of how Jones came by the Jolly Roger and subsequently his rivalry with Eric. She had wanted to tell him she knew for the longest time, she just never had the chance or the courage to do so. Now, as officially part of the crew and there, talking to him, she went on an impulse.

"I know you do," he confessed. "Dopey told me."

"Is it true?" Ariel asked carefully, remembering Dopey told her he never talked about it. "Eric, Silver and all?"

"It is," for the first time ever, it was the pirate captain that evaded looking into her eyes. He cleared his throat quietly and looked away, to the rounded windows of the cabin beside them.

"I'm sorry that happened to y—"

"Captain!" the door opened at once. The sailor stopped short at the sight of Ariel covered only by her towel and with a hand reaching towards Jones. She immediately put her hand down at the sight of the sailor by the door and stepped back.

"I-I'm sorry," the sailor stuttered when Jones eyes looked from the redhead to him. His expression wasn't happy.

"People are taking a thing to interrupt me when we're talking," Jones said lowly and glanced at Ariel, she stifled her laugh and looked down. "Yes, just say it already," he added to the sailor frozen at his feet.

"Midas men, they're here," the sailor's voice was faint and he swallowed dryly. "He wants to see you and the quartermaster now."

"Right," Jones nodded. He couldn't wait to get out of Phrygia and the king made him wait until then to settle everything so he could set sail. He glanced at Ariel one last time before leaving. "We set sail in the morning, don't be late."

"Aye, captain," Ariel dubbed the other sailors and smiled, saluting him before he left. Jones smiled at her one last time before leaving.

**x**

Ariel stepped to dock with a smile on her lips, she was proud of wearing the black bandana Jones gave her tied to the belt loop of her brown pants. She would occasionally take it in her hands and look at it; she was part of the Jolly Roger crew now, she couldn't believe it. _Her_, the mermaid, was part of something. She wanted to tell Jones how it all mean to her, but somehow she couldn't find the words to explain. That whole conversation in the cabin was still in her mind; she remembered Dopey said Jones never talked about the Roger, or Silver or anything related to his past, yet she got him to confirm it, and if they hadn't been interrupted, she thought maybe he would say something. It made her feel good, trusted, the fact that perhaps she could learn more about him. Jones had been, without doubt, her window to the human world after all. Yet, she hadn't realized that until then.

"_Cherie_, hello," Adrian's voice greeted her when she entered the Golden Hand. Ariel glanced at the corner by the door and smiled.

"Hello," the mermaid replied with the smile still on her lips. Adrian had a large tin glass on his hand. Although he smiled back, Ariel sensed something strange about him. The mercenary glanced at once at the bandana tied on her pantaloons.

"Would you like something to drink, sweetie?" Lady Allyn's voice caught the redhead's attention. Ariel glanced at her and motioned to the wine barrel on the counter. The fat lady smiled and nodded and Ariel nodded back before looking at Adrian again.

"You're really one of his now, aren't you?" the mercenary waited for the exchange of words between the other two politely, but as soon as Ariel glanced back at him, he spoke.

"Yes," Ariel touched the bandana again on her belt loop. "I am very happy."

"I'm sure you are," Adrian said with a faint smile and raised his glass when a tavern girl brought Ariel's wine, the redhead slipped two silver coins to the girl, who thanked silently with a wink. "Congratulations, _cherie_!"

"Thank you," Ariel raised her glass, too and took a long sip of the sweet wine.

"I…" Adrian started, but trailed off. The redhead looked attentive to him, motioning him to continue while she took another sip. "Why don't you come with me to the stables? I'd like to show you something."

"Sure," Ariel shrugged, but frowned at the mercenary's hesitation. She followed him to the Golden Hand stables where the horses they'd ridden the days past were.

The moment she stepped in the stable, she felt a cold chill in her stomach. She couldn't tell what or why she felt it, she looked around and saw nothing but the horses quietly eating. Adrian left his glass by a bench right in the entrance, and Ariel kept following him to the end of the stable.

"What is it?" Ariel asked, unsure of why she was there. She felt a little worried, but tried to shake the thought of her mind. This was Adrian after all.

"I'm really sorry, _cherie,_" Adrian replied quietly and stopped, turning around to face the redhead. His face was serious, and immensely sad, as if he had done some terrible thing. Ariel frowned, confused.

"Sorry? For wha—"

But she couldn't finish her sentence. She did hear some steps, but before she could even figure out where they came from, a gloved hand with a white cloth covered her mouth from behind. Ariel dropped her glass immediately and tried to turn around, but someone held her strongly, she could feel a strong breastplate in her back, leading her to think that it must've been a soldier. She felt a very strong scent coming from the cloth and her eyes started to blur and blacked out immediately and she fell, unconscious on the arms of the soldier who held her from behind.

The soldier held Ariel easily; he didn't say a word to the mercenary and walked past by him with the girl in his arms, covering her with a black cape. Another two soldiers stood behind the other one. One of them handed a velvet sack to the mercenary before following the other one.

"Queen Regina's thanks," he snarled under his black helmet as he passed by the Adrian, who took the small bag in his hand and opened it to reveal gold coins shining inside. He sighed deeply and shook his head, finding no courage to look back at the soldiers leaving the stable by a back door with the redhead.

**x**

Lady Allyn took the empty barrels in her hands easier than most men would have. She clumsily made her way to the back door of her tavern and kicked the door open. She mumbled something to the pain she felt on the tip of her booted foot, and made her way outside. She placed the barrel along with the other empty ones and glanced carelessly around as she walked back inside, but something caught her attention.

She saw three armored men in black leaving her stables and immediately didn't recognize them as her patrons. She hid behind the barrels not to be seen and observed as one of them carried something inside a small and simple open carriage. The soldier placed it on the carriage and covered with a black blanket. Allyn cursed under her breath since she couldn't see what it was, but when the soldier moved to mount his horse, she immediately saw red long curls falling from under the blanket and a pale white delicate hand. She gasped at once: _Ariel!_

Lady Allyn stood there, startled for a second before she decided to run back inside, she looked around and saw none of the lads from the Jolly Roger, so she stepped out of the tavern and saw the three soldiers and the carriage leaving by a tiny road. She glanced at the Jolly Roger docked distantly at port and decided to quickly find someone there, but before she ran to the ship, she caught a glimpse of the blonde mercenary, Adrian, leaving the stable with his head down.

_Bastard_, she thought. But she wouldn't be the one to deal with him, so she ran as fast as she could towards the Jolly Roger, internally hoping and that someone were there.


End file.
